100% Whole Wheat Brown Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 T toasted wheat bran
• 3 T toasted wheat germ
• 2 T oatmeal
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 T cold butter, either cut into small cubes or grated on the large side of a cheese grater
• 2 cups buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 425F/220C.Spray a 9 inch x 5 inch x 3 inch loaf pan with olive oil or nonstick spray.In a large bowl, combine the white whole wheat flour, whole wheat flour, toasted wheat bran, toasted wheat germ, oatmeal or oatmeal crumbs, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt and mix together well.Cut butter into small cubes or grate with the large side of a cheese grater, then add butter to the flour mixture.Wash and dry your hands, then use your fingers to pinch the butter into the flour until it’s well combined and the mixture resembles coarsely ground cornmeal.Measure out 2 cups of buttermilk.Add buttermilk to the flour/butter mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each 1/2 cup of buttermilk is added.Keep adding buttermilk until you have a loose dough. (Depending on where you live and how dry your flour is, you may not need all the buttermilk.)Scrape the dough into the sprayed loaf pan.Bake until the bread is very brown and a toothpick inserted into the very center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. (I baked the bread in these photos for exactly 43 minutes.)Run a knife around the edge of the pan and tip bread out onto a cooling rack and let it cool 10-15 minutes on rack before cutting.