I once shared a house with a guy who said the thing he didn't like about Europe was the bread. (By Europe, he meant the "Continent", his idea of Europe didn't seem to include the UK.) I could never get my head around this as I love bread, and Europe has such a wonderful variety of breads.
Years later, when I was living in the US, I often wondered what he would have made of American bread. Yes, he could have found what looked like his beloved sliced white bread but surely, if European bread didn't pass muster for him, American bread wouldn't have either?
As for me, I gave up on bread in America - it was far too sweet for me. Then I got a soda bread recipe from my brother. Soda bread brings back childhood memories, of either visiting my grand aunt or my father coming back from visiting her. She was a wonderful cook, and would always have soda bread for us - even typing this I can practically smell fresh soda bread. In my mind, soda bread was something only Auntie Alice could make so I was spent a year with the recipe but without ever trying to make it in case I ruined my memories of soda bread!
But during that year other things happened, and other memories starting to block out the good memories. I was anxious, I found it hard to be in large groups, meeting new people caused me a lot of stress. Running would get me through much of the day, but sometimes when I was at home and my mind was running away with itself, I found baking a great way to calm down. But after discovering I had a lot of scones still in the freezer, one day I decided to turn my hand to soda bread. Turns out, soda bread making is a fantastic way to calm an unsettled mind. I've since made it so many times that it is one of the few recipes that I know by heart. (On nights when I couldn't sleep I would sometimes go downstairs to the kitchen and make a batch of soda bread. One of the girls I lived with was a late night studier so she was the main beneficiary of these late night crisis baking sessions!)
Soda bread is great warm with some cheese, butter, or jam. Enjoy!
Here is the family recipe for soda bread:
Plain (all purpose) flour
Salt
Bread Soda
Buttermilk ( soured milk can be used but results are not as good )
Method:
You will need
1 or 2 mixing bowls
Heavy based or cast iron pan
Spoon
1. Measure out the flour in cups / 4oz multiples, the number is not important. I suggest starting with 2 and then adjusting as necessary for the quantity of bread required when comfortable with the technique.
2.To the flour add 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of flour. A little less is ok, but anything more than 1/2 a spoon per cup will result in a strong soda taste and a very crumbly and dry texture in the bread which is not what is desired. The end result should be soft and slighly chewy.
3. Add salt to taste to the flour and soda. I suggest 1/2 a teaspoon per cup of flour for the first two cups, then 1/4 for subsequent cups. (I forgot the salt once, and only once. The taste was not the same.)
4. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add buttermilk mix to form a wet dough, roughly the consitency of cold porridge. It only takes a minute or two to do this with a spoon not a mixer.
5. Pre-heat the frying pan (dry) to medium heat. For me this is level 3 on a 5 level electric hob. On gas it is typically 1/2 of full flame. The correct temperature can be gauged by sprinkling some flour on the pan, it should take about 15 seconds to brown. (DON'T RUSH THIS STEP!)
6. There are two options for getting from the dough in the bowl to cooking it in the pan.
Sprinkle some flour on the pan, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Drop the dough in on top and spread to a 1.5-2cm thickness. Sprinkle some more flour on the top.
Flour a flat surface and shape the dough into a circle, about 1.5-2cm in thickness. Cut into quarters and sprinkle flour on top.
7. Cooking time.
Cook for 8 minutes on each side, then test with a knife or skewer to see if it is cooked though, it should come away clean, but possibly damp. Do not turn from the first side for the first 8 minutes even if it appears to be buring. The flour may burn a little if the heat is too high but it will prevent the bread from burning and can be brushed off afterwards. If this happens reduce the heat slightly and add a bit more flour to the bottom of the pan when turning the bread after 8 minutes.
8. When cooked, wrap in a clean teatowel or similar cloth so that the bread cools slowly otherwise it will form a crust rather than a skin which is what this bread should have.
You can also bake as a loaf in the oven at 180C / 350F for 30 minutes on a baking tray (again, spread the dough out to about 1.5-2cm in thickness) or 40 min in a tin.
Years later, when I was living in the US, I often wondered what he would have made of American bread. Yes, he could have found what looked like his beloved sliced white bread but surely, if European bread didn't pass muster for him, American bread wouldn't have either?
As for me, I gave up on bread in America - it was far too sweet for me. Then I got a soda bread recipe from my brother. Soda bread brings back childhood memories, of either visiting my grand aunt or my father coming back from visiting her. She was a wonderful cook, and would always have soda bread for us - even typing this I can practically smell fresh soda bread. In my mind, soda bread was something only Auntie Alice could make so I was spent a year with the recipe but without ever trying to make it in case I ruined my memories of soda bread!
Definitely not the right kind of pan Soda bread in the making
But during that year other things happened, and other memories starting to block out the good memories. I was anxious, I found it hard to be in large groups, meeting new people caused me a lot of stress. Running would get me through much of the day, but sometimes when I was at home and my mind was running away with itself, I found baking a great way to calm down. But after discovering I had a lot of scones still in the freezer, one day I decided to turn my hand to soda bread. Turns out, soda bread making is a fantastic way to calm an unsettled mind. I've since made it so many times that it is one of the few recipes that I know by heart. (On nights when I couldn't sleep I would sometimes go downstairs to the kitchen and make a batch of soda bread. One of the girls I lived with was a late night studier so she was the main beneficiary of these late night crisis baking sessions!)
Soda bread is great warm with some cheese, butter, or jam. Enjoy!
Here is the family recipe for soda bread:
'Plain' soda bread
IngredientsPlain (all purpose) flour
Salt
Bread Soda
Buttermilk ( soured milk can be used but results are not as good )
Method:
You will need
1 or 2 mixing bowls
Heavy based or cast iron pan
Spoon
1. Measure out the flour in cups / 4oz multiples, the number is not important. I suggest starting with 2 and then adjusting as necessary for the quantity of bread required when comfortable with the technique.
2.To the flour add 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of flour. A little less is ok, but anything more than 1/2 a spoon per cup will result in a strong soda taste and a very crumbly and dry texture in the bread which is not what is desired. The end result should be soft and slighly chewy.
3. Add salt to taste to the flour and soda. I suggest 1/2 a teaspoon per cup of flour for the first two cups, then 1/4 for subsequent cups. (I forgot the salt once, and only once. The taste was not the same.)
4. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add buttermilk mix to form a wet dough, roughly the consitency of cold porridge. It only takes a minute or two to do this with a spoon not a mixer.
5. Pre-heat the frying pan (dry) to medium heat. For me this is level 3 on a 5 level electric hob. On gas it is typically 1/2 of full flame. The correct temperature can be gauged by sprinkling some flour on the pan, it should take about 15 seconds to brown. (DON'T RUSH THIS STEP!)
6. There are two options for getting from the dough in the bowl to cooking it in the pan.
Sprinkle some flour on the pan, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Drop the dough in on top and spread to a 1.5-2cm thickness. Sprinkle some more flour on the top.
Flour a flat surface and shape the dough into a circle, about 1.5-2cm in thickness. Cut into quarters and sprinkle flour on top.
7. Cooking time.
Cook for 8 minutes on each side, then test with a knife or skewer to see if it is cooked though, it should come away clean, but possibly damp. Do not turn from the first side for the first 8 minutes even if it appears to be buring. The flour may burn a little if the heat is too high but it will prevent the bread from burning and can be brushed off afterwards. If this happens reduce the heat slightly and add a bit more flour to the bottom of the pan when turning the bread after 8 minutes.
8. When cooked, wrap in a clean teatowel or similar cloth so that the bread cools slowly otherwise it will form a crust rather than a skin which is what this bread should have.
You can also bake as a loaf in the oven at 180C / 350F for 30 minutes on a baking tray (again, spread the dough out to about 1.5-2cm in thickness) or 40 min in a tin.
