Wheaten Bread With Sweet Scotch Whisky Butter

1½ cups hard white whole-wheat flour sometimes sold as whole-wheat pastry flour

½ cup Scottish oats, such as the one sold by Bob's Red Mill

2 teaspoons Sugar in the Raw

½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (reserve rest of stick of butter for Sweet Scotch Whisky Butter)

1 cup buttermilk

Sweet Scotch Whisky Butter (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a standard (1 pound) loaf pan. Dust with a tablespoon of flour and set aside.

Measure the flour, oats, sugar, salt and baking soda and place in the bottom of a large bowl. Whisk to combine all the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, beat the egg, add the melted butter and mix well. Whisk in the buttermilk and mix until well combined and creamy. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until everything is well-combined. The texture of the batter will be very thick.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and level it. You may have to carefully drop it on the counter to make it level. Score a line down the middle with a knife to make sure that the loaf bakes evenly.

Place the loaf pan on a sheet pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the loaf is done. It will pull away from the sides of the pan and sound hollow when you tap it. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Eat immediately with lots of the Sweet Scotch Whisky Butter. The bread is best eaten fresh on the first or second day, or frozen. It is also good toasted.

Sweet Scotch Whisky Butter

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

2 generous teaspoons best-quality orange marmalade

2 generous teaspoons favorite Scotch whisky such as Oban 14-year old

1 generous teaspoon honey, preferably creamed or whipped

Pinch of Maldon sea salt, about 1/8th teaspoon

Make butter at least 2 hours in advance. Mash or stir butter until it is smooth and slightly fluffy. Add marmalade and mix until smooth; set aside. Mix together Scotch whisky and honey until it is well mixed. Add scotch-honey paste to butter and mix together, mashing with the back of a fork to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated. Add salt and mix well. Taste for seasoning.

Chef's Note: Don't be concerned if the butter seems loose. The extra liquid from the whisky and the other ingredients will change the texture of the butter, but once it is rolled and chilled, you won't notice it.

Place on a piece of waxed paper and roll into a log. Twist the ends and chill in the refrigerator for 60 minutes or until firm enough to cut into slices.

Will last in the refrigerator completely covered for a week.

Serves 10 (makes 1 loaf, about 10 slices)

Nutrition information per serving: 202 calories; 97 calories from fat; 11 g fat (6 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 48 mg cholesterol; 286 mg sodium; 22 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 4 g protein.