Ross Lewis Brown Soda Bread

This delicious bread recipe is adapted from a Lucy Waverman (of the Globe & Mail) adaptation of an Irish recipe from Chapter One (a fancy Dublin restaurant). FYI: My adaptation of the recipe was a result of forgetting to add two of the ingredients, so it was really an error rather than a true adaptation. But do rolled oats really belong in soda bread, and who adds a single teaspoon of sugar to anything anyways?  

I love soda breads and am particularly fond of my whole wheat soda bread recipe, which I have made a gazzilion times. Here's the link to that loaf: http://princessbubba.blogspot.ca/2009/10/and-finally-something-golden-especially.html

A cool thing about this new recipe is that when you're putting some of the ingredients together it feels like you're participating in a crazy science experiment....you'll see what I mean, you mad scientist you.

Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 & 1/2 cup wheat barn
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (this is what I forgot to add)
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar (I forgot to add this too. Big deal.)
- 650 ml buttermilk (approximately 2 & 1/2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 4 teaspoons baking soda

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

Combine all of the ingredients except the buttermilk, molasses and baking soda in a stand mixer (if you have one...I don't), fitted with a whisk attachment.

Heat the buttermilk with molasses in a pot until just warm. Stir in the baking soda (here's where the excitement happens), then add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on a medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to high and mix for 2 minutes more.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the loaf is dark brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. Allow the bread to rest on a rack for 2 hours out of the pan.