Irish Wholemeal Soda Bread

A very tasty, non-yeasted, quick to make loaf this week. Soda bread is a traditional bread in Ireland, and is brilliant if you need bread at the last minute, because it only takes an hour to make from start to finish.

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) is used as the leaven (raising agent) rather than yeast, and buttermilk is the traditional liquid component. Buttermilk can be hard to get hold of, but once you have some, it is very easy to maintain a supply (see below for information about this).

The 1st time I made soda bread the result was pretty unpleasant - it was very heavy and really tasted nothing like the wonderful versions I had had on holiday in south-west Ireland. This, much more successful recipe, is taken from Rick Stein's Food Heroes - Another Helping. It has more white flour than the recipe I used first time round, I've learned an important lesson - it's important not to over-mix the dough, as Rick Stein points out, very little kneading is required.

A final note before you get started - you need ordinary plain flour to make soda bread - bread flours are no good for this because the gluten content is too high.

Wholemeal Irish Soda Bread

275g stoneground wholemeal flour

275g plain white flour (plus a little extra for kneading)

1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 tsp salt

450ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 230C/Gas Mark 8. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the buttermilk and mix together (note: I use a knife and then my hands) to make a soft but not too sticky dough. Add a little more buttermilk if the dough seems a bit dry.

Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly and very briefly into a round. Flip the dough over and gently flatten in into a disc about 4cm (1 inch) thick. Lightly dust a large baking sheet with flour (note: I use baking parchment), place the dough on it and then, using a large knife, cut a large cross in the top, almost all the way through the dough. Stab each quarter once in the centre with the point of the knife.

Bake the loaf on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes, the lower the oven temperature to 200C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, until it sounds hollow when you tap the base. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving.

*****

Soda bread is very definitely best eaten on the day it was made - although it isn't bad toasted the next day (although the slices can be an odd shape for a toaster!). We like it with soup or cheese, but it is particularly good with fishy things like gravadlax, smoked salmon and my personal favourite, rollmops.

Buttermilk

I think a bit of confusion surrounds buttermilk. There are 2 products called buttermilk - one is the by-product of butter making - the liquid that remains after cream has been churned into butter. This is pretty much unobtainable, although we've been lucky enough to get it at Farmers' Markets in the past. The second, more widely available version, is a cultured milk product similar to yogurt. It's available in bigger supermarkets - the brand I have seen most frequently is Yoplait.

Once you have bought buttermilk it is easy to keep a supply on hand indefinitely. All you need to do is add a little buttermilk to ordinary milk (in the proportion 1 part buttermilk to 4 parts milk) and leave at room temperature for around 12-18 hours. You can use a bowl covered with a plate or cloth for this, but the easiest container for this is a a clip-top preserving jar (the type with a rubber sealing ring). Once the mixture has thickened you can transfer it to your fridge where it will keep for a week to 10 days.

There are other uses for buttermilk besides this delicious bread. To make creme fraiche just add 3 tbsp of buttermilk to about 200 ml of double cream. Leave at room temp and after 12-18 hours you will have a delicious creamy creme fraiche. Or, leave 1 litre of buttermilk at room temperature in a large clip top preserving jar until it separates into curds (solid white stuff) and whey (liquid). Line a sieve with muslin or folded kitchen paper and pour in the buttermilk. Then tie up the white solids in the cloth and suspend overnight to let more liquid drip out. After the curds have drained you will be left with absolutely delicious creamy curd cheese. Try this mixed with garlic and fresh herbs and spread it on your soda bread. Scrumptious.