Eileen's Farmhouse Bread

Love bread? I know I do, so I want to share with you my favourite healthy home-made brown bread recipe, Eileen’ Farmhouse Bread. This recipe was given to me thirty years ago by my mother-in-law, Eileen RIP. I didn’t ask her for it mind you, I wasn’t a baker by any means. It was my husband who asked - life without his mothers’ bread must have been hard for him to bear. So, he asked her for the recipe, that and her tarts, and queen cakes. They all taste great, but at the time I wasn’t ready for baking.

Use your favourite topping

In time, I took out the recipe and have never looked back. It’s easy to make, tastes great, and is lovely with a bit of jam, so my husband tells me, I just load it with real butter. You can choose your own topping. It's great served with salad, or soup, and if you prefer, you can lightly toast it too.

Five Ingredients

You need two flours, Doves Wholemeal Strong Bread Flour and Doves Plain White Plain, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt. It’s a simple recipe that my two young adults make now too. It’s lovely to see Eileen’s recipe going to another generation.

Doves Flour - Simply the Best

Every time I make it, I need to use the weighing scales, just to be sure! My husband says he never once saw his mother use a weighing scales to make her bread. But she made several loaves per week. I don’t make that many so all is forgiven.

Over the years I have used many different brands of flours but I have settled on Doves. In my opinion they are great flours to work with.

I hope you enjoy Eileen’s Farmhouse bread as much as my family does.

Eileen's Farmhouse Bread - The Recipe

Eileen’s Farmhouse Bread

Set oven to 230 degrees

Cooking time 40 - 45 minutes – tap the bottom to make sure it sounds hollow

Ingredients

1lb plain flour

½lb wheaten meal (Doves Wholemeal Flour)

1 teaspoon bread soda

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

1 pint approx. of butter milk

Method

Add dry ingredients to bowl and mix well.

Add the milk and milk.

Put flour on the working surface and knead for a few minutes.

Add a light drizzle of flour to your baking tray and shape the loaf into a circle, cut two deep lines in the bread, like a cross. Don’t cut right through the bread. Place in the hot oven and check towards the end of cooking time as oven temperatures vary. Tap on the bottom of the bread and if there’s a hollow sound, you’ll know your bread is cooked.

Cool on a wire rack when done and enjoy!