Seeded Orange Soda Bread

By KitchenGnome

Ingredients

• 450 grams plain flour
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking soda
• 1 heaped teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons poppyseeds
• 500 mls/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. Use some of the melted butter to butter (and flour) your bread pan. You will use the remaining butter later.

Sift the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar into a bowl, making sure they are well combined. Add the brown sugar, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and orange zest. Stir to ensure they are well mixed through.

Make a well in the centre of the bowl and slowly pour in the buttermilk - stirring to draw in the dry ingredients, add more buttermilk when the mix starts to feel stiff. Once all the milk is adding you should have a pourable dough.

Scoop this dough into the prepared loaf pan, roughly flatten off the top. Pour over the remaining melted butter before placing it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to 150°C/300°F and cook for another 30 minutes or until cooked through (use a skewer to test and when it comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the loaf, the bread is cooked).

Place on a wire rack to cool. The melted butter gives it a wonderfully crunchy crust, very biscuity in texture.