Dunmanway’s Áine Cotter can hold her head high for the rest of her baking days, having made it to the final four of the top brown bread makers in the country. 

The national final was held at the Ploughing Championships last Thursday, and while Áine lost out on the ultimate crown to Mayo’s Maureen Igoe, anyone who’s ever suffered a burnt bottom and wet middle will not fail to be impressed by the local teacher’s efforts.

‘It was great fun; it’s been a great week. We’ve all been feeding off it!’ said Áine, who was preparing for Kinsale Community College’s Open Evening when she took a call from The Southern Star on Tuesday this week.

Ms Cotter is a maths teacher at the school, and was supported not only by her family but by students too as third-year pupils made sure to drop by the tent to wish their teacher well while in Offaly.

‘They’re great, it was great to get all the well wishes. They dropped by to say hi, which was lovely’.

Her children Teresa (9), Nora (7), Daniel (3) and Martha (10 months) have all benefited from mam’s cooking, as the 39-year-old started baking when her eldest started eating.

Ready for road onstage in Offaly during the final on Thursday last week.

‘My mam made it, and she [Teresa] was eating it, so I said give me the recipe. Then I started making cakes, stuff for the lunchboxes’.

Macroom Flour is an important element, and the bag was proudly front and centre on the counter during the competition.

The bread she makes is ‘quite dark’ with bran and wheatgerm, and different from the paler stuff often on offer on the shop shelves.

This writer has memories of a traumatic Junior Cert soda bread, which remained liquid inside for the poor Examiner to suffer.

How do we stop that happening?

‘The mix is quite wet, it’s quite runny going into the oven. You need 160 degrees, and an hour in the oven. The bran and everything is good soakage, and eggs. I thought they all had eggs, but apparently not! We were all doing such different things, even the ingredient are different, and they all looked different at the end. It proves there’s a need for such a competition’.

For those who are interested Maureen, this year’s champion, adds a ‘drop or two of Guinness and a spoonful of treacle’ to her prizewinning fare. The annual competition is run by the Irish Countrywoman’s Association and the National Ploughing Association, with a prize of €5000 for the winner, and a NEFF oven worth €2,000.

Áine and the other runners-up Kathy Bolger (Wexford) and Pauline Browne (Dublin) walked away with a €500 Euronics gift card.