Eating In

450g coarse wholemeal flour
50g rolled oats
1 tsp salt
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp honey
450ml buttermilk (or sour milk, or
milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1 tbsp melted butter, to finish
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Once the oven has come to temperature, put all the dry ingredient into a large mixing bowl and whisk together to combine. Make a well in the middle. Stir the treacle and honey into the buttermilk until well mixed, then pour this into the well and, very quickly, stir together with your hands until you have a soft, sticky dough. Kneading the dough is unnecessary and could even toughen it. You can either bake it like a cob loaf on a baking sheet, in which case make a deep cross in it, or you can bake it in a well-greased loaf tin. Soda Bread is best eaten on the day it is made but you can toast it.