Superb soda bread

Are you prepared to have warm, delicious bread in under an hour?

Some people find kneading bread therapeutic. Sorry, but I don’t. I just would like something quick to make and ready for lunch in an hour. Hence, soda bread is just ideal.

Another reason why it is such a good recipe, it it's so versatile. You can use whatever flour you have in the cupboard. You don’t even need buttermilk because you can make it from milk and vinegar (look at the ingredients for this). The only essential is you do need bicarbonate of soda.

While pondering this, I also wanted to create some fun flavour combos – so you can see some suggestions for variations below the main method. Play around, see what you think and please let me know!

Superb soda bread

Ingredients

• 500g flour, plus extra for dusting (half white, half wholemeal)*

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 350ml buttermilk (or 300ml milk with 1.5 tbsp lemon juice/vinegar added) you might need a bit more or not the whole amount depending on the flour you use

(see notes for ingredient replacement and store cupboard substitutions below the method)

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and line a large baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Put the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and mix well. This is also the point to add your flavourings, either sweet or savoury.

3. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in half the buttermilk. Use your fingers, a spoon or a knife to incorporate the buttermilk. Continue adding the buttermilk until all the flour has been incorporated and your dough is slightly sticky.

4. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly. Place on the baking tray and use a sharp knife to mark the loaf into quarters, cutting deeply into the dough but not quite through the base. Dust the top of the loaf with flour.

5. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the base.

6. Transfer the soda bread to a wire rack and either leave to cool or if you can’t resist tear of a chunk and slather with butter!

7. It’s definitely best to eat it on the day, but you can freeze it too.

Notes, substitutions and variations​

• Flour: You can use any flour. I also like to replace 40g of flour with oats for a bit of bite. Because it's not dependant on gluten to build structure, unlike other bread, you can use gluten-free flours easily as a replacement.

• Buttermilk: If you don't have buttermilk you can just use 300 ml milk with 1.5 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice.

Flavours:

Walnut and Stilton (my personal favourite)

• 80g walnut pieces (or other nuts), roughly chopped

• 150g Stilton, crumbled

Bacon and chorizo

• 100g bacon, cooked until crisp, chopped into small pieces

• 100g chorizo, chopped

Goats cheese, prune and rosemary

• 150 g goats cheese

• 100 g prunes, chopped

• 3 tbsp chopped rosemary

Herby soda bread

• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary

• 1 tbsp chopped thyme

• 1 tbsp herb of your choice (dill, parsley, oregano - go crazy!)