Decades later I found the recipe and tried it. It's really very easy to make.
Why does it work so well?
Soda bread is a variety of quick bread in which sodium bicarbonate (otherwise known as "baking soda" or "bread soda") is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast.
The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consuming skilled labor and temperature control needed for traditional yeast breads.
In Ireland, the flour is typically 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. In some recipes, the buttermilk is replaced by live yoghurt or even stout. Because the leavening action starts immediately (compared to the time taken for yeast bread to rise), bakers recommend the minimum amount of mixing of the ingredients before baking; the dough should not be kneaded much.
Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made using wholemeal, white flour, or both. In Ulster, the wholemeal variety is usually known as wheaten bread and is normally sweetened, while the term "soda bread" is restricted to the white savoury form. In the southern provinces of Ireland, the wholemeal variety is usually known as "brown bread" (sic!) and is almost identical to the Ulster wheaten.
Thank you Wikipedia!
Ingredients:
350g plain or wholemeal flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
300ml buttermilk
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.
Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir.
Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. (Depending upon the absorbency of the flour, you may need to add a little buttermilk if the dough seems too stiff but it should not be too wet or sticky.)
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead very briefly and gently.
Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet.
Cut a cross on the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
Next time I do it, I'll try it with oatmeal. (Very easy to make, just crush rolled oats in a food processor.)
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| To be honest, my soda bread didn't quite look like that, but more like a very thick disc with a flat top, however, it didn't impair the taste. No idea what mistake I made. |
