Healthy Brown Bread with Seeds

As a busy working Mum I love easy, healthy recipes which take very little time to prepare.   This particular brown bread is great and it uses both wholemeal and plain flours.  

I always make extra loaves and freeze them so I very rarely run out!

The advantage of using wholemeal flour is that it has more dietary fiber than its' white counterpart and has a higher vitamin content.   

When it comes to choosing seeds to add to this recipe you really can pick your favourite and there are many to choose from; sunflower, sesame, chia, flaxseeds, pumpkin or any mix or combination.   You can put the seeds into the bread and keep some back to put on top of the loaf.   They add a boost of flavor, nutrition, and crunch to your bread.

One of the many benefits of using Buttermilk is that because it is made using live, active cultures of healthy bacteria, it contains probiotics.    These probiotics help limit the amount of unhealthy types of bacteria that are in our digestive tract.   Probiotics also lower our risk for diarrhea and are highly recommended to take during and/or after taking antibiotics, as they help repopulate our digestive tract with healthy bacteria.  

Like all the ingredients I choose according to taste.   Arrabawn Milks rely on the high quality milk produced by its suppliers.  In order to support the supply of quality milk, Arrabawn has a number of services available to farmers including advice on Feeding for Quality milk, Mastitis Control workshops, Milk Recording and regular updates on Milk Urea Nitrogen, SCC, Butter Fat and Milk protein so is a good choice for our recipe.

So now for the ingredients for our easy to make brown bread.  (Makes 3 loaves)

500 g wholemeal flour                            500 g plain flour

2 tsps baking soda                                   1 litre of Arrabawn buttermilk

1/2 cup sunflower oil                                1 cup of mixed seeds

Method

1.   Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

2.   Add the Arrabawn buttermilk and oil.

3.  Put into a preheated oven at 220 degrees for the first 15 minutes and then cook at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

4. Allow to cool on a wire rake and enjoy.

This bread can be served with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, with your favourite jam or as a lovely side to your favourite soup.

Enjoy the healthy benefits of adding wholesome foods and buttermilk into your diet!

Dolores Andrew-Gavin, Health & Wellness Blogger at www.irishhealthhour.com, Children's Author and Energy Therapist.