Truth time. I’m not a big bread gal – with the exception of favourites of mine like sourdough, or the rye breads from Biona Organic, I really prefer to make my own loaves at home. I’ve made a few variations for my blog, such as my Turmeric Banana Bread and my Sweet Potato Protein Loaf, but I decided I wanted something different this time. Something a bit more ‘day to day’, a slightly simpler recipe. Enter Oat Bread! I used to make this long before my food blogger days began, and there are many variations out there. So here is mine – with some of my favourite spices like cinnamon and ginger, plus a little extra punch of fibre from the chia seeds! Let’s bake!

Recipe (Makes 10-11 slices from 1 big loaf)

Ingredients

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp whole chia seeds
• 6 dried figs, chopped into halves or quarters
• 100ml of milk of choice (I use Alpro)
• 100-150ml of water (start with 100ml!)
• 1 handful of fresh, washed blueberries
• 400g of quick-cook oats (I use Flahavan’s Progress Oatlets)
• 500ml of Greek Yoghurt (I use Glenisk Natural Protein Yoghurt – the green one, my favourite as they know! I’ve also used Liberte 0% Greek Style Natural Yoghurt!)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C (fan oven). Line a bread baking tin with grease-proof paper or greased tinfoil.
2. Take a large mixing bowl, and add your dry ingredients – oats, seeds, baking powder and spices.
3. Combine these together, and then add your yoghurt, milk, berries and 100ml of water.
4. Arm action time! Stir everything together until you get a thick batter. Add the extra 50ml of water if the batter is still a little dry.
5. Scoop the batter into your baking tin, and arrange the figs on top. You could also add pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds on top!
6. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes – insert a toothpick or fork into the bread at 45 minutes – if it comes out 99% clean you’re good to go!
7. Leave the bread to cool for 20-30 minutes before slicing!
8. You can store this at room temperature for up to a week or freeze slices for later!

Enjoy guys! There can never be enough bread recipes in my book – what else would we toast and cover in nut butter? Tag me if you try this recipe out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x