I was Celebrating International women’s Day on 8 March with a bread anyone can make (5 minutes mixing plus 30 in the oven).
Ideal for women (and men) who want something simple and homemade after a day at work , caring or home-schooling. It is perfect with a bowl of comforting soup for supper.
I first learned soda bread with Wendy in Virginia Beach, USA. Being Irish herself, she was proud to teach me one of the classics from that country. Like any bread, it has three key ingredients: flour, a rising agent, liquid. Wendy used a wholewheat-type bread flour, baking soda and buttermilk. But there are many variations:
- For the flour: white, brown, wholemeal or other bread flours will work as does plain (all-purpose) flour.
- For the rising agent: baking soda, bicarbonate of soda or baking powder will all work.
- For the liquid: if you can’t find buttermilk, ordinary milk with the juice of half a lemon and a slug of vinegar will work; alternatively try plain natural yoghurt or, if you make your own, the liquid left-over when the yoghurt is strained.
I’ve previously blogged this recipe using the strainings from making yoghurt plus self-raising flour – as it says in the name, flour and rising agent combined. On that Monday, I and a group of other visually impaired people from all over the UK, America and Australia tested a new version using plain natural yoghurt as being easier to find than buttermilk and less faff than adding lemon and vinegar. You can see our on-line live bread bake-in and the end results:
One of the Americans with an Irish background wrote: “I had never heard of adding yogurt to soda bread before, but when you explained it as a buttermilk substitute it made perfect sense. The bread came out delicious and with a level of moisture I‘ve never had before making soda bread, as you know it’s a dryer type of bread traditionally. “Phew! I’d survived the test.
250g self-raising flour.
200g plain natural yoghurt.
1 level teaspoon salt.
Pre-heat the oven to Gas 6, 200C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil.
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hand to create a soft dough that can be formed in to a ball, leaving the bowl clean.
Place the ball on the baking sheet, cut a cross in the top and bake for 25 minutes and then turn the loaf over and cook for a further 5 minutes.
The loaf will sound hollow when you knock the baked bottom; the crust will be rough, craggy and crisp; the internal temperature will have reached at least 85C.
This bread is best eaten fresh and warm but, if you have any left over, slice and store in a bag for later today/breakfast toast.
You could add herbs, spices, nuts, seeds and other flavourings to ring the changes.
We will be making lemon Victoria sponges at our next Exclusive Baking Blind event on 12 April – you are welcome to join us.
