Wholemeal Molasses Soda Bread

My alarm was accidentally turned down so low this morning I didn't hear it go off. I woke up ten minutes later than I planned and have been running behind all day. I rushed the kids up out of bed for school, we only just made the bus... I was late for appointments and on and on ... and you know how these things have a cumulative effect? By the end of the day, I was like an hour behind. And with it being the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year and all that, even the bread had to be rushed. Seriously, kneading and raising and knocking back and proofing, on a day like today - ain't nobody got time for that.

Wholemeal Molasses Soda Bread
slightly adapted from BBC

370g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
130g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
40g unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon molasses
300–340ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and put a rack on the top shelf.

Place the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and stir together. Make a large hole in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the melted butter and treacle, plus enough of the buttermilk to make a loose sticky dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. The dough will be quite sticky. Knead the dough for one minute, then shape it into a large ball with a taut, smooth top. Place the dough on a baking tray and use a rolling pin to flatten it a bit.

Take a wooden spoon, put some flour over the whole handle, then hold it horizontally over the bread. Put the wooden spoon handle on top of the bread then push it down until you feel the baking tray at the bottom. This mark is the first half of the trademark soda bread cross. Repeat with a line at right angles to this.

Dust with some flour then bake in the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the bread is brown, has risen nicely and the dough inside where the cross was made is not damp.

Serve fresh from the oven.