Nigella Lawson's Irish Oaten Rolls

Nigella Lawson's Irish Oaten Rolls

I wanted to share with y'all these super-quick and easy Irish oaten rolls that I made for dinner the other night.  It's no secret that I love baking, (No Sarah, really?) but obviously it's not sensible to bake cakes and cookies and pies every weekend.  I've really gotten into baking bread lately, as you may have seen on my Facebook page.  It's super-fun, saves me money, and at the end you get something yummy, but not ridiculously unhealthy!

This particular recipe is from Nigella's Kitchen, and is an Irish soda bread - no kneading or yeast required!  You just stir everything together, form into rolls and bake.  The bread has a nice hearty texture thanks to the oats, and a mixture of Guinness and buttermilk gives a lightly tangy taste.

My mixture was a lot wetter than Nigella's (ooer!), and it was a bit of a struggle to from the dough into little rolls.  (You can see her make these on her Kitchen program, or on YouTube).  I suppose I could have added a bit of extra flour, but I didn't think of it until after I'd rolled the balls, d'oh!  The dough had lots of spongy air bubbles due to the reaction of the bicarb and liquid.

They smelled amazing in the oven, and only took about 15 minutes to cook!

We had them for a light supper, with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers.

I was actually surprised by how filling they were - one roll was definitely enough for a whole meal!  And I liked to remind myself of all the health-giving properties of the oats inside.  Soda bread tends to dry out and get stale quite quickly, but these babies kept well for a whole week in an airtight container.  Perhaps this was due to the moistness of the dough?  Either way, they made a great breakfast, lightly toasted, and covered with cream cheese and jam.

Nigella Lawson's Irish Oaten Rolls

I wanted to share with y'all these super-quick and easy Irish oaten rolls that I made for dinner the other night.  It's no secret that I love baking, (No Sarah, really?) but obviously it's not sensible to bake cakes and cookies and pies every weekend.  I've really gotten into baking bread lately, as you may have seen on my Facebook page.  It's super-fun, saves me money, and at the end you get something yummy, but not ridiculously unhealthy!

This particular recipe is from Nigella's Kitchen, and is an Irish soda bread - no kneading or yeast required!  You just stir everything together, form into rolls and bake.  The bread has a nice hearty texture thanks to the oats, and a mixture of Guinness and buttermilk gives a lightly tangy taste.

My mixture was a lot wetter than Nigella's (ooer!), and it was a bit of a struggle to from the dough into little rolls.  (You can see her make these on her Kitchen program, or on YouTube).  I suppose I could have added a bit of extra flour, but I didn't think of it until after I'd rolled the balls, d'oh!  The dough had lots of spongy air bubbles due to the reaction of the bicarb and liquid.

They smelled amazing in the oven, and only took about 15 minutes to cook!

We had them for a light supper, with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers.

I was actually surprised by how filling they were - one roll was definitely enough for a whole meal!  And I liked to remind myself of all the health-giving properties of the oats inside.  Soda bread tends to dry out and get stale quite quickly, but these babies kept well for a whole week in an airtight container.  Perhaps this was due to the moistness of the dough?  Either way, they made a great breakfast, lightly toasted, and covered with cream cheese and jam.