Because Irish flour is very soft, it is difficult to bake good bread with yeast which is why soda bread was baked with baking soda. In other parts of the world, the baking soda is replaced by baking powder and/or bicarbonate of soda and in the days of yore, soda bread was baked on griddles (cast iron hotplates). The traditional soda bread is made with flour, baking soda, salt, and soured milk and nothing else at all. The great thing about this bread is that it can be made quite quickly and is delicious served hot with any meal. This is a recipe for the classic soda bread – something we all need to have in our recipe books.

Ingredients

• 500 g whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ tsp flour
• 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 500 ml buttermilk

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 200 C
• Mix the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and then stir in the buttermilk.
• Work all the ingredients into a dough, then sprinkle the top of your work surface with flour and knead the dough quickly into a loaf and placing it on a greased baking tray, slashing a cross on the top with a knife.
• Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until it is well risen and is light brown.
• Asllow to cool slightly and serve with butter and jam.