Bread Making with Brother Gailey

We were fortunate to have Bro. Gailey make a special appearance at our cooking class. He showed us his Irish Soda Bread and his Irish Wholemeal Bread.These are some of his ingredients.

Here is his Irish Soda Bread ready for baking....
Bob's Irish Soda Bread
3 1/4 cups Stone-ground wheat flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup oatmeal (Irish or Scottish Steel-cut)
2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Sift flours, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl. Stir in oats and make a well in center and add buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a soft moist dough. If it sems too dry, add a little more buttermilk.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a large rounded disk, about 8" in diameter. Remove to a buttered baking sheet and with a sharp knife; cut a deep cross through the dough almost cutting th disk into quarters.

Bake the bread in the middle of a preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 - 35 minutes more or until bread is crusty and richly browned.

Cool on rack.
Yields on large loaf.

And the finished loaf looks like this:
This is Bro. Gailey's Irish Wholemeal Bread ready to be baked

Bob's Irish Wholemeal Bread
Makes two loaves

6 cups stone ground wheat flour
6 Tablespoons wheat bran
6 Tablespoons wheat germ
6 Tablespoons Scottish or Irish (steel cut) oatmeal
6 Tablespoons Soft brown sugar (make 2 of those Tablespoons heaping)
2 Tablespoons Flax meal (optional)
2 teaspoons soda (heaping)
1 quart buttermilk
4 Tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs (brought to room temperature)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put all dry ingredients (except brown sugar) into a bowl and mix well. Whisk eggs, oil, brown sugar, and half the buttermilk together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in liquid. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix as you add the remainder of buttermilk. The dough should b soft and sloppy. IF you think it too dry, add a little more buttermilk. Pour into oiled bread pans and bake for 60 minutes or until bread is nice and crusty and sounds hollow when tapped. cool on a wire rack.

note: you can substitute oat bran for the wheat bran.

And here it is baked!


Thanks Bro. Gailey and Sis. Gailey, we loved the bread.