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Neven Maguire’s Brown Bread Recipe

 

By Neven Maguire Celebrity Chef

Everyone claims to have a great family recipe for wheaten bread. I’ve experimented with a lot of recipes over the years and this is deinitely the best I’ve tasted to date. It has a lovely sweet flavour but is still very much a savoury bread

Ingredients

  • 500 g (1lb 2oz) coarse wholemeal flour
  • 125 g (4 1/2oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 tsp bread soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 600 ml (1 pint) buttermilk, plus a little extra if necessary
  • 1 tblsp light brown sugar
  • 1 tblsp melted butter, plus extra butter for greasing and serving
  • 1 tblsp golden syrup
  • 1 tblsp porridge oats

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6) and grease 2 x 900ml (1 1/2 pint) loaf tins.
  • Sift the flours, bread soda and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter and golden syrup. Using a large spoon, mix gently and quickly until you have achieved a nice dropping consistency. Add a little bit more buttermilk if necessary, until the mixture binds together without being sloppy.
  • Divide the mixture equally between the prepared loaf tins and sprinkle over the porridge oats. Bake for 1 hour, until cooked through and each one has a slightly cracked crusty top, checking halfway through that the loaves aren’t browning too much. If they are, reduce the temperature or move the loaves down in the oven.
  • To check that the loaves are properly cooked, tip each one out of the tin and tap the base. It should sound hollow. If it doesn’t, return it to the oven for another 5 minutes. Tip out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
  • To serve, place the brown wheaten bread on a breadboard and cut into slices at the table. Hand around with a separate pot of butter for spreading.

Notes

Neven says: Cook it ahead! The beauty of this bread is that it takes so little time to prepare, but you could have everything weighed out and ready to go beforehand, though it’s hardly necessary. However, it can be frozen very successfully.

This recipe and many more are available in Neven Maguire’s The MacNean Restaurant Cookbook, published by Gill & MacMillan Books and available to buy here.

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Gratin of haddock with Imokilly cheddar and mustard by Rachel Allen

fish-gratin_0

Serves six.

You will need:

6 x 175g (6oz) pieces of haddock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

225g (8oz) Irish mature Cheddar cheese, grated

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons cream

Ovenproof dish 8½ x 10 in (21.5 x 25.5cm)

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4.

First season the haddock pieces with the salt and freshly ground black pepper. Arrange the fillets in a single layer in the ovenproof dish (it should be a dish that is posh enough to bring to the table). Mix the grated Cheddar cheese together with the Dijon mustard and the cream and spread carefully over the fish.

The fish can be prepared ahead and refrigerated at this point. It will keep in the fridge for a day.

To cook, place in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the top is golden and bubbly. If the fish is cooked but the top is not yet golden, place under a hot grill for just a few moments to colour the cheese.

Fish Pie Recipes:

http://www.rachelallen.com/post/gratin-haddock-imokilly-cheddar-and-mustard