Soda Bread Recipe

 Classic Soda Bread
  I frequently turn to soda bread when the bread bin is bare. If there’s nothing for lunch or to serve with soup for supper, it's a quick and simple answer - and sustaining, too. This classic recipe lends itself to endless tweaking and variation. Slot it into your repertoire and you'll never regret it. Rate this recipe: Prep time 15 minutes Cook Time 40-45 minutes Servings Makes 1 medium loaf Ingredients * 500g plain flour * 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda * 1 tsp fine sea salt * Approx. 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt * A little milk, if necessary bake, Flour, dough, soda bread, bread,
 Loaf Directions
 1. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form a soft dough, just this side of sticky.
 2. Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer – you need to get it into the oven while the bicarb is still doing its stuff. You're not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you’d get with a yeast-based bread.
 3. Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
 4. Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. Soda bread is best eaten while still warm, spread with salty butter and/or a dollop of your favourite jam. But if you have some left over the next day, it makes great toast. Variation: For six-seed soda bread, mix together 2 tablespoons each of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy and linseeds, plus 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds; set aside. Follow the main recipe but use half white flour and half wholemeal flour. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the seeds to the dry ingredients before proceeding as above. After cutting a cross in the top of the loaf, brush it with a little buttermilk or ordinary milk and sprinkle with the remaining seeds. Bake at 200°C/gas mark 6 for 40–45 minutes.

Brown Bread   

Ingredients: 1 cup sifted flour
1 cup corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup molasses
2 cups buttermilk or soured milk
1 cup seedless raisins, if desired
Directions:
Sift flour once, measure, add soda and salt and sift again. Add corn meal and whole wheat flour and blend. Add molasses and buttermilk and stir until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the raisins and pour into well-greased molds, filling them not more than 2/3 full (Use No. 2 cans for a well-proportioned slice.) Cover with 2 thicknesses of heavy waxed paper or metal foil and steam for 2 hours. Serve piping hot. For larger molds, allow 3 full hours for steaming.
Makes 4 to 5 small molds
Bread may be wrapped in moisture-vapor-proof wrapping, stored in the freezer, reheated in a double boiler, if desired. If no steamer is available, set molds in a shallow pan of hot water and bake in a 275-degree F. oven for thee required length of time.

French Country Bread

 French Country Bread

Ingredients:                                        

Yield:

1

loaf

Units: US | Metric
Starter

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm mineral water
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough

1 1/2 cups lukewarm mineral water
4 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour
5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, approximately

Other

cornmeal, for the baking sheet

Directions:

1
One to two days before you plan on serving the bread, make the starter; in a medium-size bow. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it proof until foamy. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.
2
On bread-baking day; make the dough: Transfer the starter (don’t worry if it has separated) to the large bowl. Add the lukewarm water and the fine sea salt and stir well to combine. Begin adding the flour one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Make sure each cup is absorbed before you add the next. If the dough is tacky after all of the flour has been added, add an additional one or 2 tablespoons of flour.
3
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth and elastic. This will take 20 minutes by hand; if you have a mixer with dough hook, 8 to 10 minutes will do the trick. If you use a dough hook, do give the dough a few last turns by hand. You want a consistency that is smooth elastic and somewhat soft.
4
Flour the inside of a large bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Punch down the dough, and knead it quickly – 15 or 20 turns – then return it to the bowl and let it rise until doubled in bulk a second time. The second rising is usually a little quicker, 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. Punch down again, reflour the rising bowl, add the dough, and let rise a third time.
5
As the bread is one its third rise, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and have at hand a plastic mister, such as you use for plants, filled with spring water. Place a baking sheet as close in size as possible to that of an oven rack on the middle rack. The sheet mimics an oven floor. Sprinkle a second, smaller baking sheet well with cornmeal.
6
When the dough has risen the third time, invert it carefully out of the bowl onto the cornmeal-sprinkled sheet, and using a razor, slash the top with two or three Xs, 1/16 or 1/8 inch deep. Lower the oven heat to 400, spritz the interior of the oven 3 or 4 times with the mister and immediately slide the bread in, on its baking sheet, across the baking sheet already in the oven. Bake the bread 40 to 60 minutes, opening the oven and spritzing the inside once more, halfway through the baking. The bread is done when it is golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped on its bottom. Cool the bread on a wire rack.

 

Mexican Fry Bread

Ingredients

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1/4 teaspoon salt
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
4. 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
5. 2/3 cup water or 2/3 cup milk
6. 1/4 cup oil ( for frying)

Directions

1. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and shortening; mix until shortening is blended. Add water; mix well.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board; knead until smooth, about 2 minutes.
3. Roll dough into a ball; place into a plastic bag.
4. Separate and roll out enough dough to make six 4- to 6-inch thin, flat rounds.
5. In a cast iron skillet, heat oil to 375 degrees F.
6. Place rounds in oil; cook each side 20 to 30 seconds or until light golden brown.
7. Use a slotted spoon to remove rounds from skillet; drain on paper towel.
8. Fill with prepared fillings as desired.
9.  
10.                                                   
    
    Total Time:   30 mins
    
    Prep Time:   20 mins
    
    Cook Time:   10 mins                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Cooks4_6's Note:
    
    This is a Mexican Chef's recipe that is a quick and fabulous alternative for purchased tortillas or shells. Well worth the effort ...
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Naan bread

 Simple naan breads, flavoured with garlic and fresh coriander, are quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 250g/9oz plain flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 110-130ml/3½-4½fl oz milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

For the topping

• nigella seeds, poppy seeds or sesame seeds, or chopped garlic and fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp butter, melted, to serve

Preparation method

1. For the dough, sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl. In another bowl, mix together the milk and oil.
   
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Slowly mix together the dough by working from the centre and incorporating the flour from the edges of the 'well', to make a smooth, soft dough. Knead well for 8-10 minutes, adding a little flour if the dough is too sticky.
   
   Technique: Kneading bread
    

   Watch technique2:35 mins
3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea-towel and leave in a warm place for 10-15 minutes. Form the dough into five balls.
   
4. Preheat the grill to medium and place a heavy baking sheet on the upper shelf of the grill to heat.
   
5. Roll the dough balls out quite thinly, ideally in a teardrop shape, but really this is just aesthetic. Sprinkle over your chosen topping and press into the surface of the dough. Place the naans onto the hot baking sheet and grill for just 1-2 minutes, or until lightly browned. Brush with butter and serve hot.
   

Malted Grain Loaf

Malted grain loaf

Servings                                                                           

• Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 500g malted grain (‘Granary’) flour
• 5g dried yeast
• 10g fine sea salt
• 300ml warm water
• about 1 tbsp melted butter, or rapeseed or olive oil
• rye flour, for coating (optional)
•  

rye flour, granary flour, dried yeast, Butter

Directions

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and mix to a rough dough. Add the butter or oil and mix well. Adjust the consistency if you need to with a little more flour or water to make a soft, easily kneadable, sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a work surface and knead until smooth and satiny – roughly 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a round then lightly oil or flour the surface and return to the cleaned-out mixing bowl. Put the bowl inside a clean bin bag and leave until doubled in size – anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes, possibly even longer. Deflate (‘knock back’) the dough by tipping it on to the work surface and pressing all over with your fingertips. Then shape the dough into a loaf, dusting it with a little rye flour if you have some. Transfer to a well-floured board, linen cloth or proving basket, lay a plastic bag over it and leave to prove, until almost doubled in size again. Preheat the oven to 250˚C/Gas Mark 9 (or at least 220C/gas 7, if that’s your top limit), then put a baking tray in to heat up. Have ready, if possible, a clean gardener’s spray bottle full of water – you’ll be using this to create a steamy atmosphere in the oven, which helps the bread to rise and develop a good crust. (You can achieve the same effect with a roasting tin of boiling water placed on the bottom of the oven just before you put the loaf in – but the spray bottle is easier.) Transfer the loaf to the hot tray, removed from the oven. Slash the top, if you wish, with a serrated knife. Put the loaf into the hot oven and give a few squirts from the spray bottle over and around it before closing the door as quickly as you can. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 200C/gas 6 and continue baking until well browned and hollow-sounding when tapped – around 30 minutes. Leave to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Apple, Guinness And Cheese Soda Bread

Apple, Guinness & Cheese Soda Bread

• 
  

Prep time

• 10-15 minutes

Cook Time

• 35-40 minutes

Servings

• Makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• * 250g strong white bread flour
• * 200g spelt flour
• * 50g oats
• * 10g fine salt
• * 20g baking powder
• * 100g roughly chopped dessert apple, such as Dorset Russet
• * 75g grated Cheddar
• * 100ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
• * 250ml buttermilk
• * 250ml Guinness

Flour, dough, soda bread, Cheese, apple, bread, Loaf

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 230°C/gas mark 8. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the flours, oats, salt and baking powder. Add the chopped apple and 50g of the cheese and mix in. Make a well in the centre.
3. Combine the oil, buttermilk and Guinness and pour into the dry ingredients. The next stage is the most important part of making good soda bread: the less you handle the mixture, the lighter and tastier the loaf will be. ‘Feather’ your hand out like a giant fork and gently combine the ingredients. This should take no more than a minute and the mixture should only just be combined.
4. Put plenty of flour on your work surface and tip your mixture out on to it. Shape the dough into a round (don’t knead it, just pat it into shape). Transfer it to the baking sheet and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and well risen.

Homemade Bread Split Tin.

Homemade Bread Split Tin.

Prep time

• 1/2 hours.

Cook Time

• 30 mintues.

Servings

• Makes 1 loaf.

Ingredients

• 500 g Flour,plus extra for dusting
• 7 oz of Dried Yeast
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 1 teaspoon of Honey
• 1 teaspoon of virgin cooking oil
• Luke warm water.

Bread Flour Yeast Honey Salt

Directions

1) Lightly grease a 2 Ib (900 g) loaf tin.Sift the flour and Salt together in a bowl using a very fine sieve and then make a well in the centre.Add the dried yeast into the mixture of the flour & Salt.Then add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of virgin cooking oil.
 2) Gradually add the luke warm water to all the ingredients and with a wooden spoon slowly combine the flour into the other ingredients around the edge of the bowl to form a batter.
 3) Place on a floured surfthace and knead for 20 mintues until smooth and elastic.if you added too much water add more flour so the dough becomes dry.Place in a lightly oiled bowl.Then grab a towel,wet it using warm water and place over the bowl and leave to rise,in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours or until nearly doubled in bulk.
 4) Knock back the dough and turn over on a lightly flour surface.Shape into a rectangle.Roll up lengthways.Tuck the ends under and place seam side downin the tin.Cover and leave to rise for about 20/30 mintues,or until nearly doubled in bulk.
 5) Using a sharp knife,make one deep central slash the length of the bread;dust with flour.Leave for 10/15 mintues.
 6) Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230 C/450 F/ Gas 7.Bake for 15 mintues,then reduce the oven temperature to 200 C/ 400 c / gas 6. Bake for another 20/25 mintues unti golden brown.