Wholemeal Irish Brown Bread

Ok, so my thesis is OFICIALLY DONE! I no longer have to spend hours obsessing over statistics or whether my headings look just right :D. Now onto my next essay...*head/desk* :P.
At any rate, now that it's handed in and out of my mind I can go back to baking more regularly :D So this morning I decided I'd make Buttermilk Wholemeal Bread because we had no proper brown bread in the house! The nice thing about Irish wholemeal bread is that it requires NO KNEADING!!! The result is a dense textured loaf full of fibre and homey goodness, perfect for soup and salmon and lashings of butter and jam :)

We normally buy freshly baked wholemeal bread from a little market near where we live but this week through a combination of being super busy and them leaving the market earlier than usual we missed out. So I decided I'd try my hand at it and adapt a really basic (and kind of crappy) wholemeal buttermilk bread recipe that I already had in my recipe box.

Unfortunately I had to leave before it was cool enough to eat but according to the text I just received it was a winner and my mum wants me to make more next week. the loaf came out a little on the flat side because the only loaf tin I had available was a silicone tin and whatever about their pro of being non stick, I personally think they're pretty rubbish as far as keeping the shape goes... But anyway, I'll use the metal one next time and then compare results :)

The bread has honey and buttermilk in it. I omitted the salt because I find that buttermilk can be quite salty, but feel free to put it in if you think the honey will make the bread too sweet. According to my tasters the lack of salt wasn't a problem and the honey was balanced so it really depends on your own personal tastes.

Wholemeal Irish Buttermilk Bread


(Makes 1 large loaf)


450g wholemeal flour
150g plain flour
1 egg
550mls buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp salt
2tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 220 C
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl
Add the egg to the buttermilk and beat together
Add 3/4 of the wet ingredients to the dry and mix, adding more liquid bit by bit until it is all incorporated
Add honey and mix well
Turn the wet, sticky dough out into the loaf tin and bake for 55mins-1 hour, covering with baking paper to prevent over browning of the crust if necessary

If you have them sprinkle some jumbo oatflakes over the top before baking :)

Adventures into Home-made Pizza and a Spicy Pizza Sauce Recipe

Exams are over, and a certain someone made it into round 2 of a certain competition!!! So in order to celebrate we decided to do something a bit different and make home made pizza :) Unfortunately, I can't eat regular pizza so I had to modify a regular dough recipe to make it wholewheat. Luckily for me, a certain someone was really understanding about that :). I wasn't sure how it would turn out since the last time I made pizza dough was around 8 years ago and that was regular white dough. As it turns out the recipe still needs tweaking, so unfortunately I won't be posting it up today :( It turned out way too doughey and by the time it had cooked through the cheese was VERY browned. It was also way more puffed up that I expected so I'll have to do some more experimentation but I promise It will be up here ASAP!

After a discussion about toppings we decided to make it a bit of hotch-potch kitchen sink pizza with loads different toppings including home made chicken tikka. So, while Ethan was off testing his entry for the next round of RPGSS I set to work making the dough, sauce and chicken! 

The chicken tikka recipe is a staple of my student diet. It works really well with lemon scented rice or even just plain rice and makes a YUMMY sandwich! It has just the right balance of spices to satisfy my spice craving but feel free to mess with the ratios until you find your perfect balance ^^ (Scroll down for recipe).

I decided to make the pizza sauce slightly spicy to match with the chicken. I think next time I'll go with herbs rather than chilli and make a non spicy pizza and compare the two. I also used tonnes of garlic because I loooooooove garlic! But again, feel free to use as much or as little as possible (Scroll down for recipe)

So after 2 hours and 45 minutes of work (I never expected it to take that long) it was FINALLY time to put the whole thing together and add the yummy toppings :D. I went with home made chicken tikka, pineapple and mushrooms and Ethan chose pepperoni, chicken tikka and pineapple. We piled 'em high and bunged it in the oven and 30 minutes later we had fresh pizza on our plates :). 

Aside from the dough problems the pizza turned out really yummy and we'll definitely be making it again :D!

Chicken Tikka 

(Serves 2)

2 chicken breasts

3 tbsps plain yoghurt (I omitted this for the pizza and made it a dry marinade)

2 tsps tumeric

3 tsps cumin

2 tsps garam masala

1 tsp hot chilli powder

2 tsp coriander leaves

1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and add the chicken breasts. 

Toss the chicken to make sure it's coated all over

Marinade for at least 3 hours

Preheat over to 160 degrees C and cook chicken for 25-30 minutes

Pizza Sauce

(Makes enough for 1 12" pizza)

3 cloves of garlic

tin of tomatoes

1/4 - 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder

olive oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

Saute the garlic and chilli powder in the oil for 45 seconds

Add the tomatoes and puree and reduce heat to a gentle simmer for 20 mins

Blend until smooth

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If you already have a tried and tested pizza dough recipe I would DEFINITELY recommend having a co-op pizza night. Gather the girls, the lads, the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the family, whoever you feel like. Get messy making dough, throw flour at eachother, pile the toppings high and have fun with it :)

Oatmeal Raisin cookies

I have to thank Ethan for putting me on to the idea of making these many moons ago. It had never even crossed my mind to make them and now I've made them twice in the same week (they're pretty popular with my room-mates). I've been fiddling with the original recipe a bit by substituting some of the white flour for wholewheat. I think because of this they turned out possible a little bit sconey but hey, they're still full of oaty raisiney cinnamony goodness...-y :P Also, the wholewheat flour makes them dense and really satisfying :D 


I've stuck the substitutions for not using the wholewheat flour down the end in case that's more your thing :)


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


Makes around 15 depending on what size you like them


200g wholewheat flour
100g plain flour (+2 handfulls if necessary)
1/2 tsp baking powder
170g melted butter
200g light brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2 tsps vanilla essence
2 eggs
130g oats
180g raisins


Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C
Soak the raisins in water with 1 tsp of the vanilla essence (this will make them plump up and be wonderfully juicy)
Combine the flours and baking powder in a medium bowl
Mix butter and sugar in a bigger bowl until well blended
Add cinnamon, remaining vanilla essence and eggs and beat until creamy
Add the flour mix and beat until just combined
Add in oats and raising and mix until just combined
Bake for 13-15 mins (edges should be slightly brown and centres slightly soft)


Cool on a wire rack (or dive straight in) :)


Enjoy x


(If you don't want to use the wholewheat flour then 250g of plain flour should be used instead of the combination)