Thackerys Cookery School - Rosemary Soda Bread.jpg

Soda Bread with Rosemary

Soda bread is fairly quick to make as there’s no need to prove it, and is also very forgiving providing you follow the basic recipe.

You can add other ingredients to make a change from savoury to sweet. See the *variations on page 2.

Ingredients:  

  • 250g Wholemeal flour

  • 250g Plain flour plus extra for dusting

  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

  • 420ml buttermilk (see note on page 2)

  • 2 dessert spoons finely chopped rosemary. Use fresh rosemary removed from the stalk before chopping,

  • Sea salt flakes like Maldon (optional)

 

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the two types of flour, bicarbonate of soda, rosemary, and fine salt.

2. Add the buttermilk and mix until a fairly sticky dough forms. Different flours will absorb different amounts of liquid. if the dough feels dry, add a little extra buttermilk, if very sticky add a little flour.

3. Lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it. Gently roll and fold the dough a couple of times to bring the mixture together. Do not knead, this will make the bread tough.

4. Shape the dough into a ball. Flatten gently with your hand. Score the dough with a fairly deep cross across the top. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes (if using) and dust with white flour.

5. Carefully place onto a heavy non-sick baking tray or one lined with baking parchment. Bake for 35-45 minutes in the preheated oven. The loaf should be golden-brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

6. The bread is best eaten on the day of baking. If not eaten on the day, I usually slice and freeze, bringing out a slice at a time as required.

 
 

Buttermilk

When used with baking soda, it reacts to form carbon dioxide, thus helping mixtures such as soda bread, scones, and American pancakes to rise. If you are unable to get buttermilk, you can make your own. This will make more than you need for the above recipe, add the extra buttermilk to another recipe such as suggested above.

Ingredients:

  • 500ml Milk (whole or semi skimmed)

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

  • or 2 Tablespoon white vinegar

Method:

1. Mix together the milk and lemon juice/vinegar. Leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Don’t worry if it looks curdled this is quite normal. Give another good stir and use.

2. Any unused can be refrigerated for a couple of days, providing there is enough shelf life on the milk that you’ve used.

*Variations:

You can if you wish use all white flour but it doesn’t work that well with all wholemeal (makes it heavy).

Adding the rosemary is optional, traditionally it wouldn’t have herbs included. You can experiment adding other hard herbs like thyme (hard herbs tend to be on twig-like stalks) although you can try with softer herbs if you wish,

Add cheese and herbs or even dried fruit like sultanas and a drizzle of honey for a sweet version.