Wicklow Date & Walnut Soda Bread
Makes 1 loaf
300g stone ground wholemeal flour
250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1½ tsp bread soda
100g “ready to eat” dates, chopped
50g chopped walnuts
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
200ml buttermilk
120ml Guinness stout
1 tbsp chopped walnuts, for the top
Preheat oven to 190ºC/Fan170°C/Gas 5. Line a baking tray with parchment.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl except the bread soda.
Sift the bread soda to ensure there are no lumps into the dry ingredients.
Add the dates and walnuts to the flour.
Mix the sugar, buttermilk and stout together in a jug, stirring well.
Pour in most of the buttermilk stout mixture, adding more if required and mix until it forms a fairly stiff dough.
Transfer to a floured surface and shape into a round or oval shape, using a knife cut a cross into the dough without cutting all the way through.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes. Sprinkle the walnuts over the top halfway through the baking time. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/Fan 160ºC / gas 4 after 20 minutes if it is browning too quickly.
The bread, when cooked, should be well risen and “a hollow sound” should come from the base of the bread when tapped.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
