Soda Bread
My mother had Irish heritage and this soda bread recipe was one of her favourites. Mum employed Mary to help her cook for the family in the holidays, Mary was from the Republic of Ireland, and her mellifluous accent and rustic cuisine perhaps reminded Mum of her own Irish roots. She loved Irish cooking and cherished cookbooks such as Tamsin Day Lewis’s West of Ireland Summers cookbook, and the many works from Ballymaloe House and cookery school.
Mum did not hand over her kitchen to anyone lightly but Mary was one of the few allowed over the threshold. She especially adored her soda bread and here it is, best eaten warm and with a lot of butter and jam. It is easy to follow and a great recipe to make with kids as soda bread doesn’t require lengthy waits to prove the dough. I hope you love it too.
ingredients
450g coarse wholemeal flour
115g plain bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon demerara sugar
2 handfuls of bran
1 handful wheatgerm
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 heaped teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pint buttermilk
loaf tin
method
Grease a bread tin. Preheat the oven 180C (fan oven). Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and stir until the dough resembles a thick porridge mix. Cook for approximately 75 minutes, until the loaf shrinks away from the tin and forms a nice crust. When you turn out the bread, the base must be cooked and the loaf should sound hollow. Serve warm with butter and jam.
