I had another long lie-in this Sunday. The only way to recover from the busyness of the working week. When I finally returned to the world of the living, I was refreshed enough to start baking the soda bread I’d been thinking about all week.
Seems like I did more thinking than actual preparation! I had to adapt the recipe because I didn’t actually have much flour in my cupboard, so I halved everything. I also added some maple syrup because I like the slightly sweet taste I anticipated that it would bring.
Ingredients
- 10g butter (room temperature), plus extra for greasing
- 225g (8oz) spelt wholemeal flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200ml buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200oC (fan 180oC/400oF/Gas 6). Lightly grease a baking sheet with a little butter.
- Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Pour in the buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of hand-warm water and maple syrup. Briefly mix the ingredients. The dough should be very soft and sticky, but still easy to shape. Add another tablespoon of water if needed.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a neat round, about 20cm (8in) in diameter (it needn’t be too smooth). Place the loaf on the baking sheet and cut a 1cm (1/2 in) deep cross in the top. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with a little white flour.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Tap the base of the loaf to see if it cooked: it should sound hollow. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. The soda bread is best eaten very fresh, but if wrapped well it will keep for 1 or 2 days.
The final product looked nice. It had that satisfying hollow sound when I tapped the bottom. It was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. It had a very slight sweet taste which complemented the savoury borlotti bean soup that I ate it with.
Very simple to make, it will be something I come back to time and time again. I will make sure I have enough flour next time as I did end up with rather a small loaf. It’s almost finished now because it is quite moorish.
Reference: Adapted from MARY BERRY COOKS THE PERFECT, page 332.
Just Bunmi 