A few weeks ago, I made Irish Soda Bread. I'd made it before, but it
had been a number of years. I didn't have the recipe I'd used before,
so I started with the one from the
Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, which seemed
similar to what I remembered.
White Soda Bread
- 4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 14 oz of buttermilk
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan.
- In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.
- Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)
- Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.
- Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.
- Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.
Instead of buttermilk, I used 12 ounces of milk that I soured with
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
I made it a few times, and decided that it wasn't enough salt, so
I added another 1/2 teaspoon.
I tried it with whole wheat flour, it was really tasty that way.
I'm planning on trying other flours as well.
All-in-all, a really simple, quick, easy, and cheap bread, that
ends up quite tasty. I usually leave it on the cutting board
and put a bowl over it to make it last a little longer, I haven't
tried the tea towel method yet.
All material Copyright © 2003–2009 Ulysses Somers, except where otherwise noted.