How to make soda bread
Never made bread before? Soda bread is a good place to start. This fantastically easy bread recipe doesn’t contain any yeast so there’s no kneading or proving involved – in fact, you can easily throw it together in a mere 10 minutes!
Find out how to make soda bread with our basic recipe and don’t forget to watch the video to see it in action.
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What is soda bread?
Irish soda bread is one of the easiest bread recipes around. It doesn’t contain yeast so there’s no kneading or proving involved; simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl, mix to a rough dough, shape into a loaf and bake! That’s it.
Soda bread is typically made with wholemeal flour which gives it a fantastically dense and doughy texture, but you could easily use a mixture of white and wholemeal flour if you’re after a lighter texture. We love it served simply with lashings of butter and/or honey for breakfast, or with cheese and preserves for an easy lunchtime meal.
Check out our handy video:
How to make soda bread
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
- 400g stoneground wholemeal flour
- 200g plain white flour, plus a little extra for kneading and dusting
- 1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 450ml buttermilk
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/fan210°C/gas 8. Mix the wholemeal and plain flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the buttermilk and mix into a soft, very slightly sticky dough.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until it comes together into a ball. Cut in half and knead each piece briefly into a smooth round. Do not over-knead, as this will make the bread heavy. Slightly flatten each round into 4cm-thick discs, then place them well apart on a baking sheet lightly dusted with flour. Using a large, sharp knife, cut a large cross into each loaf, to within about 1cm of the base.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 4 and bake for another 10 minutes until well-risen with a golden-brown crust. The loaves should also sound hollow when you tap their bases.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack, then cut into 1cm-thick slices. Toast and serve with whatever condiments you fancy.
Per serving: 88kcals, 0.6g fat (0.1g saturated), 3.6g protein, 18.2g carbohydrates (1.3g sugars), 0.4g salt
More soda bread recipes:
Beetroot and feta soda bread
Guinness and treacle soda bread
Guinness soda bread
Cheese and onion soda bread
Soda bread rolls
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