Karen O'Donoghue's Digestible Brown Bread
This recipe comes to us from our good friend Karen O'Donoghue, owner of the Happy Tummy Co. bakery in Ireland. Karen is a master baker and evangelical... about the health benefits of soaking. Soaking grains before baking unlocks their natural potential—improving digestibility and enhancing their nutrient availability. It also breaks down phytic acid, making minerals like iron and zinc more accessible, while also softening the grains for a better texture in your bread. Read more This recipe comes to us from our good friend Karen O'Donoghue, owner of the Happy Tummy Co. bakery in Ireland. Karen is a master baker and evangelical about the health benefits of soaking. Soaking grains before baking unlocks their natural potential—improving digestibility and enhancing their nutrient availability. It also breaks down phytic acid, making minerals like iron and zinc more accessible, while also softening the grains for a better texture in your bread.
TRY MORE RECIPES from Karen O'Donoghue
NUTRITION PER SERVING (Read more)
Notes
This bread needs to be made by hand - a mixer is too aggressive on these flours and methods.
If freezing, we recommend doing so in individual slices. Place pieces of parchment paper in between each slice to prevent sticking, and freeze in an airtight bag for up to 3 months. Once defrosted, serve toasted to freshen up.
This is a guest contribution from Karen O'Donoghue so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe. You can watch her make it with Rupy on our YouTube Channel if you'd like to learn more.
Ingredients
Method
1. Gather and prepare your ingredients.
2. Place the flours, porridge oats, wheat bran and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk to remove any lumps.
3. Place the buttermilk and treacle into another bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the egg and the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to incorporate. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours. Cover either with clingfilm, a large plate or a clean tea towel.
5. The next day (or 8 hours later), preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan. Line a 2lb loaf pan with greaseproof paper. If your tin isn’t dependably greaseproof, brush it with some olive oil before lining it with the paper. You can scatter some oats or seeds on the bottom for texture if you like.
6. Sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda and stir to combine. Scrape into your prepared loaf tin.
7. Bake for 1 hour. Then carefully remove the loaf from the tin and place back into the oven to cook for a further 20 minutes. To test doneness, knock the bottom of the loaf. When fully cooked it will sound hollow.
8. Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
This bread needs to be made by hand - a mixer is too aggressive on these flours and methods.
If freezing, we recommend doing so in individual slices. Place pieces of parchment paper in between each slice to prevent sticking, and freeze in an airtight bag for up to 3 months. Once defrosted, serve toasted to freshen up.
This is a guest contribution from Karen O'Donoghue so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe. You can watch her make it with Rupy on our YouTube Channel if you'd like to learn more.
User comments (16)
I made this, it fell at the final hurdle. I missed off the bit to take it out of tin and bake further 20 mins…though I did cook a bit longer and stuck a probe in, clearly I underbaked it, so I ended up having to bin it. However, that was my fault, the crusty bits at the top and side were delicious, so shall make it again and bake it right this time. I substituted buttermilk for whole milk with lemon…
Easy to make, tastes great and good for you, perfect!
Second time making this delicious bread, this time adding some dried fruits for Christmas Day breakfast. Thank you and good wishes sent your way for the holidays and 2026 🤶🦘
Fantastic bread, definitely going to be a regular bake for me. Watched Karen’s video and followed to the letter….first loaf and it was a great success.
I subbed molasses for the treacle and added a cup of raisins. I found the extra time in the oven without the pan burned the crust. (I took it out after 15 minutes instead of the recommended 20). It was still very delicious and healthy. I will make it again but I’ll try a lower oven temperature and leave it in the pan for a little longer.
Si delicious ! Best bread I ever had. Used molasses (no treacle found) & it was so good. Light & moist, couldn’t stop eating it
Added a sourdough starter and was amazed how much it grew whilst soaking overnight. My mixture seemed more runny than the one on the video but, trust the process, it made for a very light loaf and ended up with two loaves from the quantity in the recipe. Recommend watching the video in the learn section as you can bake along with it. Best loaf I’ve ever made and a lot lighter than sourdough. Thank you for this wisdom. Will be my go to bread recipe now.
I really like the texture of this loaf. I added sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds on top, which gives it a bit of a crunch
Easy. Tastes nice. Definitely will
Make again.
Family favourite freezes great
This bread is my family’s daily bread and also the bread I make for my daycare children. It’s is a big hit!
Delicious
Very delicious, had it soaked for 24 hours and the taste was much better than other whole-wheat beads I have prepared before.
Need to include egg in ingredients
It's made such a difference to me. It hss great textire and os really tasty.
Very easy to make and tastes lovely. I could feel it helping my digestion. Freezing is a great alternative as it is only myself who eats it. Wrapping in a tea towel certainly keeps it from drying out and I also put into a lock and lock plastic box to help keep it fresh.