Less mess brown bread

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 210℃. Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. You could either grease it well and dust it liberally with white flour. Take a large mixing bowl and place all the dried ingredients inside. Using a fork, mix the dried ingredients until they're combined.

2. Make a well in the centre of the dried ingredients and crack in the 2 eggs, pour in half the buttermilk. Using the fork, stir everything together until it starts to clump. Pour in the rest of the buttermilk and stir once more. You will end up with a very thick batter. It doesn't look one bit like bread dough!

3. Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin and put the loaf tin into the hot oven.

4. Bake at 210℃ for 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to 200℃ after 20 minutes and bake for a further 45 minutes.

5. After this time, check the bread is cooked by inserting a skewer into the deepest part of the loaf. If it comes out dry and clean then the bread is baked. If not, return it to the oven for another 10 minutes before testing again.

6. Once the bread is cooked, take the tin out of the oven, and lift the bread from the tin carefully (it's very hot). Wrap in a damp tea towel and place it on a cooling rack. This will soften the crust to make it easier to slice. If you prefer a crispy crust, turn off the oven and put the bread back onto the rack in the oven while it cools.

7. Once completely cold the bread will keep for 3 days in a bread bin, you can freeze it for up to 3 months if well wrapped. You can also slice the loaf, then freeze individual slices which will keep for up to 1 month. If cooking for one or two people I recommend this method of baking, slicing, then freezing.