Irish Bran Bread

I have no idea why I am calling this Irish Bran Bread except that this is based on a family recipe from my grandmother who was Irish.🤔

My grandmother was much loved in our family.  And much feared. Especially at bath time.

I remember as a small child when we visited her and she decided at some point during the week or so that you needed your hair washed.  That was when you were most afraid.

It always started out pleasantly enough.

She would apply shampoo while singing a happy Irish song about drinking or gypsies.  Oh wait.  They are the same song.  So maybe a song about drinking or having a crush on a girl. Nope.  Same thing again.  Maybe she sang songs about….hmmmmm, yep, all about drinking.

But they were happy songs.  Rousing, but happy.  You could sing along with those songs; plus, you got good suds.

Things started to go awry though when she segued into the drinking and war songs.  As the battle heated up and the English were revealed to be the dastardly bad guys, tying damsels in distress to the railroad tracks, the friendly hair wash became more like a medieval torture chamber.

Her nails became claws, and her hands began scrubbing your scalp like she was trying to dig a tunnel into your brain.  The worse those rotten Englishmen were, and the more poor Irish boys that died tragically before their time, the more violent the scrubbing became.  I still wonder how I actually had any hair left on my head by the time she was finished.

But, you forgave her everything when she made her bran bread.  Everyone in the family loved that bread, and my mother thought to write down the ingredients in my grandmothers later years or else the recipe would have died with her.

This vegan version is very loosely based on hers, since the original called for massive amounts of butter and margarine, and eggs and buttermilk.  But it tastes the same, and that’s what counts.  No hair washing required.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of oat bran
• 2 – 2 1/2 cups of pastry flour ( whole wheat is good)
• 1/2 cup monkfruit ( or sugar)
• 2 heaping Tablespoons arrowroot ( or tapioca flour or cornstarch)
• 2 Tablespoons caraway seeds
• 1 stick (8 Tablespoons vegan butter)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vegan honey or agave (don’t recommend maple syrup for this)
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups almond milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300.  Put the butter into a round glass (Pyrex) dish and put it in the oven to melt the butter.  This will also save you the added step of not having to “grease” the bowl.  Remove from the oven when just melted.  Do not let it get too hot or you will have to wait to use it, especially if your milk is cold.
2. Combine the apple cider vinegar and milk in a bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes to make buttermilk.
3. Put the oat bran into a small bowl and when the buttermilk is ready, add 1 cup to the bowl and stir.  Set aside to let the bran soak in the buttermilk.
4. In a large bowl, combine the caraway seeds, baking soda, salt, monkfruit, arrowroot, and 2 cups pastry flour.  I use a whisk to make sure the ingredients are really mixed well.
5. Whisk the butter and honey together and add to the flour mixture, mixing till it resembles crumbs.
6. Next, add the oat bran and mix well.  It will sort of look like wet sand at this point.
7. Add the rest of the buttermilk, and pour the mixture into a round glass (Pyrex) baking dish. If it is really soupy, you can add the other 1/2 cup of flour.  It should be pourable, but not soupy.
8. Put the bowl into the oven and turn the heat down to 250.  Cook the bread for 2 hours, then remove from oven and cool in dish for at least 30 minutes- 1 hour.  Turn out on a rack, flip right side up and continue to cool.

Enjoy!