Bannock Bread

Branching out from my habitual scones, I decided to try "Bannock Bread", also having extra buttermilk in the fridge I needed to use. I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe, found here. I did not have currents, so I substituted dried Montmorency Cherries instead, and they tasted excellent in this bread. I imagine almost any dried fruit would suffice here.

All purpose flour, Granulated sugar, Butter, Buttermilk,
Archer's Farm Montgomery Cherries, Baking Soda,
Baking Powder & Salt

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup dried currants

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
2. Combine dried ingredients except currants. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, mix butter in until it looks like sand. Stir in currants. Add buttermilk until dough is soft.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Shape dough into a 7 inch round. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On top of the loaf, cut 1/2 inch deep cross.
4. Bake for 40 minutes.

The Process:

Dry ingredients plus butter rubbed in.

This is my "soft dough". My dough only required 3/4 cup of buttermilk in order to reach this
consistency, so don't add it all at once.

Stirring in the Cherries. It was difficult to stir them in well, so depend on the kneading for a little bit more mixing.

After being kneaded for a few minutes (my dough also did not require five minutes of kneading in order to reach this elastic state). The Cherries tended to stay towards the top of the dough, despite my best efforts to mix them in well.

Flattened the dough ball into a disc while on the baking sheet.

I scored the top of my loaf with a cross using a razor blade and then brushed the top with a bit of extra buttermilk. 

My loaf emerged looking beautiful and mouth watering!

Notes & Tips:

• Like I said, I used dried Montgomery Cherries here (Archer's Farm, found at Target), and they tasted excellent in this bread. 
• In order to make a prettier loaf, I brushed the top of my loaf with a little bit extra buttermilk.
• I only needed 3/4 cup of buttermilk in order to get a soft dough, and liked the result. However, if you added more of the buttermilk, the loaf would be moister.
• I found that the fresh bread tasted best plain, without any type of butter or curd, etc. It does, however, taste excellent a couple days later toasted, with a light spread of butter to moisten it up again.
• This Bannock Bread had a taste reminiscent of Irish Soda Bread, but was softer, moister and a touch sweeter.

Look at that bread!

Results:


I will definitely make this again, even bought currants to try it as directed! The loaf was moist and not crumbly at all. It did have an Irish Soda Bread flavor to the dough, but the Cherries and little bit of sugar sweetened it up nicely.