Muffins & Bread

I've been busy baking this week after a weekend of sewing.

I made Apple Bran Muffins for a nice breakfast treat and Irish Soda Bread with a triticale twist.

The muffin recipe can be found here.

They were so yummy that they were gone in one day. I thought I'd get an extra day out of them, but my family had other ideas. I have two packages of wheat bran, so I needed to use some up and with apples being in season here, it was a logical choice. The muffins were really moist, not dry and chewy like bran products can sometimes be. The molasses is something I don't use often, so I'll have to make more or find another recipe to use up the rest.

As you can see in the photo, the outside is slightly burnt, I needed to go out and hubby didn't hear the oven beep in time. But it actually gave the outside a lovely crispy texture and the inside was still really moist.



The next recipe is one I make often, but I mix it up a little every time. Soda Bread is an easy bread using baking soda instead of yeast for leavening. I find recipes for this bread everywhere and have incorporated various ingredients like caraway seed, different flours, raisins and in this case oats and wheat germ.
I also used triticale flour. Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye. I read about this grain in a health food book and ordered the flour to try it out.
I've made a casserole bread, which was good and homemade pasta, which was not so good, from this flour. There are more recipes at the Bob's Red Mill website.

An interesting fact I picked up is that the cross was traditionally made on the bread as a means to ward away the devil. So with that here is the recipe.

Irish Soda Bread

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup triticale (or wholewheat or other flour)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C)
2. Combine dry ingedients.
3. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until and a coarse meal forms.
4. Add buttermilk, stir quickly and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead gently and form into a round. Place loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Dust surface with flour and cut a shallow X into the centre. Bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 1 round loaf.