Soda bread

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Soda bread - about this recipe

Soda bread is a type of quick bread in which baking soda (otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate) is used for leavening rather than the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. Other ingredients can be added such as raisins, egg or various forms of nuts.

The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Soda bread can dry out quickly and is typically good for two to three days; it is best served warm or toasted. In Ireland, typically the flour is made from soft wheat; so soda bread is best made with a cake or pastry flour (made from soft wheat), which has lower levels of gluten than a bread flour.

Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made using either wholemeal or white flour, with the former known colloquially as "brown bread" in the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland the wholemeal variety is known as "wheaten bread" and normally sweetened, while the term "soda bread" is restricted to the white savoury form normally served fried. The two major shapes are the loaf and the "griddle cake", or farl in Northern Ireland. The loaf form takes a more rounded shape and has a cross cut in the top to allow the bread to expand. The griddle cake or farl, is a more flattened type of bread. It is cooked on a griddle allowing it to take a more flat shape and split into four sections.

Servings

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• Olive oil for greasing
• 250 g (9 oz) plain flour
• 1 level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1 level teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 225 ml (8 fl oz) buttermilk or live yoghurt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 230° C (450° F - gas 8) and grease a baking sheet with a little olive oil
2. Sift the flour, salt and soda in a mixing bowl and add the sugar.
3. Stir in the yoghurt or buttermilk with a spoon at first, then once amalgamated, with your hands
4. The consistency should be pliable and firm, not sticky.
5. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl for a few minutes then shape it into a ball.
6. Place it on the greased baking sheet and cut a cross in the top of the loaf to enable the loaf to 'flower' as it bakes.
7. Bake for about 12 minutes, then turn the oven down to 200° C (400° F - gas 6) and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, until the base of the bread sounds hollow when you tap it.
8. Allow to cool on a raised grid.

Serving suggestions

Serve with butter and cheese. It is best eaten on the day of backing as it does not keep as well as yeast-leavened bread.