Lainey Living

A great brown bread

Lainey Living -

My mum baked brown bread a lot when we were growing up. Smeared with butter and jam at teatime or with chesse or leftover sunday ham for school lunches. We rarely had white sliced bread in our house. I never appreciated it enough as a child, envying neat crustless white triangular sandwiches in other kids lunchboxes. Only as I got older did I learn to love it.

I think brown bread is a real Irish thing. I've never been able to find my mum's own recipe and have been searching for an uncomplicated brown bread recipe for years. This one taken from Áine Carlin's "Cook, Share, Eat, Vegan" cookbook is great. I have made it so many times now and each time it has turned out perfect. With a spread of butter or alternative it makes a perfect lunch with a bowl of your own homemade soup.

I have taken to lining my loaf tin with baking parchment as the bread was getting stuck in my tins, they are obviously not as non-stick as I thought they were! This recipe uses soy milk, I tend to use what milk I have in the fridge, dairy is fine, oat milk worked very well. I also tend to use wholemeal flour instead of rye flour.

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
  • 300ml soy milk
  • 200g rye flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1⁄2 tablespoon black treacle
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1⁄2 tablespoon rolled oats

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan), Gas Mark 7. Grease a 450g loaf tin and dust the sides with a little flour.
  2. Combine the cider vinegar and milk in a jug or bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes to let the mixture curdle.
  3. Place the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
  4. Whisk the maple syrup, black treacle and oil together. Make a well in the centre of the flours and pour in the oil mixture along with the curdled milk. Use a spatuala or fork to work the flours into the liquid in a gradual clockwise motion until it forms a rough dough.
  5. Transfer the dough to the tin, spreading it to the sides using the spatula. Sprinkle over the oats and dust with a little flour. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
  6. Remove from the oven, cover with a clean tea towel and leave the bread to rest in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Wrap in a clean tea towel and leave to cool to room temperature, then cut into slices as needed.