Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 375º F.
Combine the flour, oats, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
Combine the sour creak, milk and sugar in a small bowl. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in 4 T. of the melted butter.
Turn the dough out onto a greased cookie sheet and form into a rounded circle about 8 in. in diameter. Brush the top with the remaining 1 T. butter. Bake for 40-45 min. or until browned. Cool before serving.

Make into scones rather than a loaf of bread by dividing dough into 12 smaller circles. (the scones will take less time to cook than the full loaf, obviously – ~30 min.)
You can substitute fat free plain yogurt for the sour cream if you don't have sour cream, or if you want to lighten up the recipe a bit.
There are many different flavor variations you can make. Some that we have tried:
- Cranberry Pecan: Add 1 c. dried cranberries and 1/2 c. chopped pecans to the flour mixture.
- Olive: Add 1/2 c. chopped olives to the dough when mixing.
- Rosemary: Add 2 T. chopped fresh rosemary to the flour mixture.
- Pesto Roasted Garlic: Add 2 T. pesto and 1 head of roasted garlic (peeled and mashed) when mixing.
- Sun-dried Tomato: Add 1/2 c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes when mixing. (Good when combined with the pesto roasted garlic variant)