The gentle art of tweaking a tradition to make it into what you want - my soda bread bastardizations and an oatmeal version for good measure

Since my son has become such a huge fan of soda bread, I have been playing around with it a bit more. I started out by baking traditional soda breads, for years, and just as I was searching for a recipe on my blog so I could link it here in case you might just want to do a normal, true to form soda bread... I couldn't find it anywhere! I mean, how weird is this that I have been baking said bread for years and never once put up a recipe? I have plenty of posts featuring real soda breads, with lavish photos and all, but no recipe whatsoever for a soda bread that is really traditional and all. I think I should fix that one fail pretty soon, don't you?

But the truth is that I have plenty other soda breads on my blog, mostly using up the same recipe, only tweaking it here and there as it takes my fancy. For instance, the rye soda bread I normally use as a basis for other recipes, was a huge success here. So fragrant it filled my home with a deep scent of warmth and homeliness - if you don't believe there's a scent to homeliness, just bake your own bread and then you'll see. No candle can ever replicate that, unfortunately, as it must come from the heart, your heart. Yes, I truly believe that the things one cooks are infused with our good wishes, our love, our hearts. And that's what makes homemade food so much better than anything out of a packet, besides the fact that you know what you get if you're the one doing the cooking.

After the success of said bread, I put it in my head I wanted to try my hand at small sized soda breads. When I get something in my mind, there's just no shying me away from it, I find myself always going back to that idea, even if I have put it aside for a while. For instance, my personal style, the one I feel comfortable and stylish in, has nothing to do with what's usually on trend, fashion wise. Sometimes it may collide - baaaad for my wallet!! - but most times, it doesn't, and I end up looking outdated to most people - or perhaps reaaaaaally cool for having such a personal style. I tried my hand at being trendy and a true fashionista for a while, and it felt weird, uncomfortable, only to find myself going back to who I am style wise: witchy, victorian, dressed in black, slightly goth; because that was what I had in my mind all the time, that look. Same with the mini soda breads, I had to bake them!

And then I got it in my head, that since we had quite a choice of flours around the kitchen, I should try and do a multi flour soda bread. I played with the idea in my head for quite a few days, tweaking it here and there, adding and then taking out stuff, dreaming away the scents and tastes it would get, until I decided to dive in and try it out. I mean, it makes perfect sense to try and bake a multi flour soda bread using that first recipe that has been the basis for so much goodness, doesn't it? I thought so, and I went ahead and did it, it came out so good, so filling and moist at the same time, a burst of flavour once it hits your tastebuds, it was pure perfection, and I can tell you it will be on repeat quite a few times, I'm thinking this is probably my fave soda bread recipe of them all!!

But then, and because I am such a picky person, I started thinking "What if I did an oatmeal version? Or a spelt version? What about a buckwheat one?". You can all see where this is kind of leading, can't you? Because if all those flours combined created such a tasty and yummy bread, I was now curious to know how it would be if using them on their own. After all, it had all started with the rye soda bread, so why not take it from there and try one of each? Well, and if I did think it, I did bake it. I started out with the oatmeal soda bread version, but am currently toying around with others as well, as long as I can get my hands on the flours I need to play with!

So the recipe for my oatmeal soda bread is as follows:

• 250 gr flour
• 100 gr oatmeal
• 50 gr mixed grains and nuts
• 1 tsp soda bicarbonate
• 1 level tsp salt
• 2 natural yogurts
• 50 ml buttermilk

Start by preparing the buttermilk in advance, fifteen minutes in the least, by mixing a dash of cider vinegar or lemon juice to 50 ml of milk. Once it's ready, turn on your oven at 190º. On a large bowl, mix the flours and the grains with the salt and the bicarbonate. Prepare the buttermilk, yogurt and egg mix by beating the egg lightly and then adding it to the yogurts and the buttermilk, mixing the lot thoroughly. Now, with the help of a fork, whisk the wet mix into the flour mix and stir everything together. Once it starts to come together, lightly flour your hands and a cold working surface and pour the batter onto it. Pat together until you form a rough ball, but do not knead it. Transfer the dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and flour, sprinkle some more flour onto the top of the bread and with a knife score a cross or a star over the surface. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for about forty to forty five minutes. If you can, allow it cool before you dive in. I confess I have a seriously hard time doing it...