Soda Bread

Soda bread is a variety of quick bread, traditionally made with baking soda which is used as a leaving agent instead of the 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 backing soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide.

Other ingredients can be added such as butter, egg, raisins or nuts.


INGREDIENTS

300g strong flour
15g baking powder
4g bicarbonate of soda
4g salt
15g sugar
30g unsalted butter
210ml buttermilk


METHOD

1. Sieve all the dry ingredients into a bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the mix until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Make a well in the centre and add most of the buttermilk, but not all of it. Only add the last part of buttermilk if the dough is too dry.
4. Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough.
5. Turn out onto the table and knead until the stickiness has gone. 
6. Mould into a round and place on baking tray lined with silicon paper.
7. Make a cross with a knife almost cutting all the way through.
8. Dust the dough with flour.
9. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, then put into a hot oven at 220'-230'c for 10 minutes; then turn the oven down and finish cooking for approximately 25 minutes.
10. The bread is cooked when it is golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.