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.

Bacon, Cheese and Cider Soda Bread.

Bacon, Cheese and Cider Soda Bread.                       

Prep time

• 10 - 15 mins.

Cook Time

• 40 mins.

Servings

• Plenty

Ingredients

• 400g Self raising Flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 level teaspoon of bicarb soda
• A handfull of Bacon Lardons, fried crisp and drained of excess oil.
• a good sized hanfull of not to big cheese lumps (I used Lancashire)
• A large glug of cider
• 1 290ml tub of buttermilk.

Directions

My first recipe, excuse the vague measurements . Anyone who has made soda bread will work round these. If you have never made it, please it try it. Trust me, your taste buds will love you for ever!
Set Oven to 200 degrees  or 180 degrees  if you have a fan oven.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour in the wet ingredients. Use a folding spatula to quickly mix. The cutting action of a folding spatula, is good for soda bread. Aim for no more than one min  mixing. No kneading, it should NOT look like smooth a loaf of bread. Put in two mounds (rough loaves)on tray, greaseproof paper underneath the loaves.

Bake for 40 minutes, the bottom should give a hollow sound when knocked. It should look golden. Put on a rack to cool. 30 minutes.

This is very nice fresh with butter. It is also  beautiful sliced and fried, next day with breakfast. Toast it for the next few days, topped with cheese or butter.

Soda bread with rosemary and sultanas

Soda bread with rosemary and sultanas

Soda bread is quick, easy and just as delicious as freshly baked yeasted bread. You can doctor your homemade soda breads with various additions, including fresh herbs – woody, pungent ones, such as thyme and rosemary, work best. This particular incarnation is a quick-to-make homage to the divine rosemary and raisin bread made at Sally Clarke’s bakery in London. It’s lovely with soup or a salad, or just spread with salty butter – as is the cheesy thyme variation below.
Rate this recipe:

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Prep time

• 15 mins

Cook Time

• 45 mins

Servings

• Makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• 500g plain white or refined spelt flour
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
• 150g sultanas
• 300ml plain full-fat yoghurt
• 200ml whole milk
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Sultanas, rosemary, soda bread, herbs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line one with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together into a bowl. Stir in the chopped rosemary and sultanas. Make a well in the middle.
Whisk the yoghurt and milk together until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. This will give you a soft, sticky dough, which is how I like it, as it makes a nice moist loaf.
With floured hands, or a spatula, scrape the dough on to the prepared baking sheet and pat it into a rough round. Bake for 45 minutes until risen and golden brown.
Leave the bread to cool on a wire rack. Eat as it is within 24 hours or, if you’ve left it longer than that, toast the slices. The loaf freezes well too.
Variation
Soda bread with thyme, Cheddar and mustard Use 250g spelt or wholemeal flour mixed with 250g plain white flour. Replace the rosemary and sultanas with 100g grated strong Cheddar and 1 tbsp finely chopped thyme.
Whisk 2 tsp English mustard into the yoghurt and milk before combining with the dry ingredients.