Homemade Brown Bread with Oatmeal and Sunflower Seeds

The aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the kitchen… one of life’s great pleasures. Growing up in Ireland I know how much we love our traditional brown and white soda bread and the variations are as long as your arm. You might think it looks complicated to make but I assure you, it’s really simple. With this recipe no messing with yeast, no kneading or proving necessary, unlike my Irish soda bread with cranberries and candied orange peel which requires a gentle knead to shape.

We used to have lovely brands of coarse wholemeal flour stocked in our larger supermarkets but they have all disappeared from the shelves and no longer available. For now using a local wholemeal flour, it still makes a really nice loaf… but if you can, use coarse brown wholemeal flour. The pinhead oatmeal (steel-cut oats) adds texture and of course the sunflower seeds too. Wondering what the green bits are? The sunflower seeds turn green (nice Irish touch) and the Nordic Food Lab explains it better than I could.

As this dough is very sticky I prefer lining the bottom of the loaf tin with non-stick baking parchment. I’ve baked enough loaves over the years to know that even if you grease the baking tin really well without lining, sometimes the bottom of the loaf sticks to the base… why risk spoiling your bread.

To achieve a wet soft sticky dough you possible may need to use a little more laban than stated in the recipe. The amount of liquid required really depends on the type of flour used. Don’t fret too much with the consistency of the dough, a little wetter or drier, it still bakes into a fine loaf. One thing I will mention… mix quickly and get the bread dough into the hot oven… bicarbonate of soda starts to activate once mixed with an acid liquid. You can take all the selfies with your bread after it’s baked.

Once baking is complete and to make sure the loaf is cooked through, remove the bread from the tin (loosen the sides with a blunt knife) and also remove the baking parchment. Place the baked bread back into the oven (without the tin) and bake for about 5 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow ( the sign it’s done) when lightly tapped at the base. Use a thick oven cloth when preforming the above task the bread and baking tin are very hot when handling.

Simple enjoy this brown bread with some butter and preserves for breakfast or slice thickly and use for open-faced sandwiches. Also, delicious when served along with a hearty bowl of vegetable soup or Dad’s summer salad.