Soda Bread

Soda bread originates in Ireland and is made every day in many homes throughout the country. It gets its name from the bicarbonate of soda that is used to help it to rise. 

It is delicious eaten alongside a warming soup or topped with ham for lunch or a light supper, or even spread with marmalade at breakfast.

Ingredients

100g plain white flour  (plus extra for sprinkling)
100g plain wholemeal flour
½ x 5ml spoon bicarbonate of soda
½ x 5ml spoon salt
100ml natural yoghurt
75ml semi-skimmed milk

Equipment

Weighing scales
Baking tray
Large mixing bowl
Sieve
Palette knife
Measuring spoons
Measuring jug
Spoon
Sharp knife
Oven gloves
Pan stand
Cooling rack

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven as high as it will go, to 230°C/210°C fan or gas mark 9.
2. Prepare your baking tray by sprinkling it with flour.
3. Tip the wholemeal flour into a large mixing bowl, and sift over the white flour. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix the dry ingredients together well using a palette knife.
4. Pour the yoghurt into a measuring jug, then top up to 175ml with milk.
5. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in all the liquid. Mix it together making a figure of eight motion with the palette knife until large lumps form.
6. With your hand, gently bring the dough together. Do not be tempted to knead it, as the air will be pushed out and it will end up heavy and dense.
7. Gently form it into a ball (don’t worry if some bits of flour are left in the bowl) and place it onto the baking tray. Turn it upside down and pat it down so that it has a flattish top (it should still be about 6cm deep).
8. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep cross (about twothirds of the way through) across the top of the dough. Then, using the tip of the knife, carefully prick small holes in the quarters between the lines
   of the cross.
9. Put the dough into the oven as quickly as possible and set the timer for 10 minutes.
10. After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 180°C/160°C fan or gas mark 4 and set the timer for 20 minutes.
11. After 20 minutes, take out the bread, turn it upside down on the tray and return it to the oven for the last 5 minutes. This will help the bottom to cook. Please note the total cooking time is 35 minutes.
12. The bread is ready when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
13. Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack so that the bottom doesn’t go soggy. Cut into wedges to serve.

Skills used include:
Weighing, measuring, sifting, mixing/combining, baking and cooling.

Top Tips

• The bicarbonate of soda will start to work as soon as the liquid mixes with the dry ingredients, so you need to get the dough into the oven as quickly as possible from this point. If there will be a delay before you can cook it, do not mix the wet and dry ingredients together until you are ready to bake.
• If your hands are very sticky from forming the dough, wash them before doing the final moulding, as clean dry hands will help you make a good shape.

Something to try next time

• For white soda bread, just swap the wholemeal flour for plain white flour.
• Mix flavourings through the dry ingredients before adding the liquids. 20g of chopped olives, 1 chopped clove of garlic and 20g of chopped sundried tomatoes make lovely flavours.

Prepare now, eat later

• This is a quick recipe that doesn’t need to be prepared in advance; just have all the equipment and ingredients ready and the oven hot.
• Soda bread freezes very well, wrapped tightly in foil and then put in a freezer bag and labelled. Freeze for up to 3 months. Unfrozen the bread will last about 2 days, but you will probably have to slice and toast it on the second day.