Oatmeal Soda Bread

I’ll tell you what bugs me, people who travel to work in the morning drinking their tea/coffee from those aluminium thermos mugs. They’re designed for camping in the woods, not commuting from Forest Hill. Are we supposed to look on enviously and wonder at the cool, impulsive, incandescent lives led by these urbane creatures? Probably. I know I certainly do. Another thing that bugs me is spell checkers which try to force you to spell aluminium, aluminum.

Serving Suggestion: Cheese not included

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus half an hour waiting
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Skill level: Easy

Ingredients

• oatmeal – 100g
• wholemeal flour – 150g
• spelt flour – 150g
• bicarbonate of soda – 1½ tsp
• brown sugar – 1½ tbsp
• salt – ¾ tsp
• water – 225 ml
• butter – 30g
• yoghurt – 100 ml
• milk – 200 ml

Start by placing the oatmeal in a saucepan along with the water and butter, bringing it up the boil, removing it from the heat, covering and leaving for half an hour.

Spoon the oatmeal mixture into a bowl, add the milk and yoghurt and whisk until smooth.

Add the flours, bicarb, salt and sugar, and mix together. The mixture is meant to be sloppy so don’t panic.

Spoon into a well oiled loaf tin and cover with tin foil.

Place in a pre-heated oven (200C/gas mark 6) for 15 minutes.

Remove the tin foil and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Knock the loaf out of the tin and cool on a rack.

Verdict: This is very moist for a soda bread and has a lovely sweet, nutty taste. It does fall apart very easily though.

Drink: We ate this with a twice baked cheese souffle and a bottle of red.

Entertainment: ‘Trainspotting’ on video – yep, video. This was closely followed by the first episode of ‘The Apprentice’ The producers have had to trawl the depths of the corporate cesspit to find this year’s cluster of swaggering and comically self-deluded wannabe Amstrad ‘executives’. Great viewing for me, an excruciating ordeal for my fellow blogger. Personally I’m looking forward to watching them over the next few weeks as they bitch and rut their way to the final.