Should we change our habits or let habits change us? Make this tasty Irish soda bread and see what our heart bids us!

Where there is a will, there is a way or so the saying goes, and couldn’t it be more accurate, describing the willingness of human nature when we set our mind to accomplish something.

Why soda bread?

Soda bread is just like its name suggests bread made with soda, baking soda to be more precise. Despite all the fuss about sour dough bread nowadays, making bread is a straightforward natural process that doesn’t require anything but wheat flour, water and some bacteria that is found in the air.

Once we wet the flour and leave it in the open for the bacteria to feed on it, we’ve got ourselves the glorified sour dough that we can use to make our very own bread. So, making bread is kind of a straightforward foolproof process, given that we live in a climate where wheat can flourish and produce a high protein / gluten content flour.

Missing that, our bread making ambitions will fall flat. If there isn’t enough gluten in the flour to support the bacteria CO2 production, the gas will just leave the bread without being trapped thus leavening it.

Why Irish soda bread?

Thanks to the lovely Twilight vampires inviting climate of Ireland, wheat production although present it was never at the height of the dough stretching masters of Italy.

Bread, in Ireland, was made flat until baking soda came to the rescue and raised the Irish bread making into new heights.

Although many -especially in the sourdough community- would frown at the prospects of soda bread, making it has its advantages.

Soda bread is quick to make and due to the leavening agent used, we don’t have to be picky about what we mix it with. Probably this is why there are a number of recipes out there mixed up with oat, nuts, fruits, cottage cheese or Guinness.

What’s in soda bread?

The basic Irish soda bread contains flour, salt, baking soda and the acidic buttermilk. The reaction of acid and soda is what generates CO2 and raises the bread. The real beauty of the whole method is the quickness, we can prepare several loaves of bread without much effort.

Ingredients

1⅔ cup / 200g Wholemeal flour (wheat, spelt)
1⅔ cup / 200g All-purpose flour (use wholemeal flour if desired)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
1 teaspoon 6g Baking soda
1¼ cup / 300ml Buttermilk or Guinness

How to make Irish soda bread

Mix flour, salt and baking soda.
Knead in the buttermilk. Mind that once baking soda is mixed with acid (buttermilk in our case) the chemical reaction that rises the bread immediately starts and dies off pretty quickly (about 2 minutes in the open air) so be quick forming the dough.
Form the bread into shape, cut a cross on the top so the bread has space to expand. Let it rest and grow.
Put it into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear, 30 – 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

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