Place the wholemeal flour into a large mixing bowl.
Sift in the plain four and the bread soda.
Add the salt and porridge oats into this mixture and mix well.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs together with the oil, then make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg and oil mixture.
Incorporate the buttermilk and get the mix to a ‘sloppy’ consistency.
Pour into a well-greased 2lb/900g loaf tin, smooth the top with a wet spoon and sprinkle the top of the bread with some additional porridge oats.
After about an hour in the oven, remove the bread from the tin, turn upside down and pop the upside down bread back in the tin and return to the oven to bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool down before cutting.
Additional Notes:
Two tablespoons of treacle added to the wet mix makes for darker & sweeter bread.
This bread stays fresh for 4-5 days and can be successfully frozen.
To make individual brown breads , the mixture can be spooned into muffin tins and baked for approx 25-30 minutes at 180C
If you are nervous that the bread won’t come out of the loaf tin when cooked, place a strip of parchment paper across the middle of the tin before pouring in the mixture. When the bread is baked, you can use the parchment to ease it out, if problems arise. Sometimes a sharp tap on a flat surface works a treat also!
