Lucky us, in beautiful Norn Irn, we’ve got an amazing item in our supermarkets called ‘Soda Bread Flour’. It’s a flour that has Bicarbonate of Soda (a rising agent) and salt added, and all it needs to activate it is some fresh Buttermilk.
If you are not blessed with easy-access to Soda Bread Flour, it’s absolutely no problem to make your own – for every 325g of plain flour, add 5g of Bicarbonate of Soda (aka Baking Soda) and 5g of finely ground salt.
My thanks to the lovely Norah Brown, of @CookwithNorah. I’ve got a copy of her first cookery book which is all about soda breads and scones, and it’s so reassuring to just pull it out, and know that the recipes are going to work!
Here we go:
EQUIPMENT:
- An 8inch/23cms cake tin, either really well buttered, or with a paper liner – which I reuse a couple of times, btw!
- A large mixing bowl
- a small sieve, if adding Bicarbonate of Soda to plain flour.
- a balloon whisk, and a flat-bladed knife
INGREDIENTS: This makes the cake you see in these pictures..
- 325g Soda Bread Flour, OR 325g of plain flour, plus a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda and a teaspoon of salt well mixed in. See NOTES about Bicarb; they’re quite important. ‘More is definitely not better,’ she said darkly..
- a tablespoon of caster sugar (optional)
- 150g Dried fruit – Sultanas, raisins, or a mixture – your bread, your choice! I like raisins myself.
- Fresh Buttermilk, I used about 200mls today, but that will change, depending on the weather (I’m only half-joking), and the age of your Buttermilk – it gets thicker as it gets older, so you’ll need more..
METHOD:
- Heat the oven to 200º.
- Line or butter the cake tin.
- Measure the flour into the bowl. If you’re adding bicarb and salt to plain flour, sift in the bicarb, and whisk it very thoroughly with the balloon whisk for several minutes. I give the Soda Bread Flour a good whisk too, just to wake it up.
- Add the fruit, then mix it well into the flour, making sure that the fruit is not in clumps, and that each piece is coated with the flour. I use my hands to do this.
- Add about 150mls of buttermilk, and using the knife, start mixing it all together. Add more as you need it. The end result should look like (and I’m quoting Norah here) ‘A thick Porridge’. That’s a very accurate description. You should be generous with the Buttermilk, but not too generous – honestly, you’ll find the right amount, it’s all about practice!
- Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface, and also on your hands, then move the dough in a piece onto the work surface. Give it a turn or two, and pat it into a deep round about 6-7 inches/ 15-20cms in diameter – don’t worry if it looks too small for the tin, that’s not going to be a problem.
- Using the knife, cut a deep cross into the bread, then move it straight into the tin.
- Pop into the oven, and set a timer for 20 minutes, After the 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 180º and give another 15-20 minutes.
- When your Soda Bread is cooked, it will be crunchy-looking and slightly knobbly on top. The old and tried-and-tested way to decide if it’s cooked is to turn it out onto a clean tea-towel in one hand and tap the bottom with the other. If it’s done, it will sound hollow – easy!
- Cool, slice, butter and eat!
NOTES:
A dissertation on Bicarbonate of Soda:
Have you ever been out somewhere and had a scone that looked fantastic, but which was slightly dry and bitter, requiring extra butter and jam to make it edible?
Later, you realised that it had left you with that awful bicarbonate dry bitterness on the back of your teeth? Yes? Well, you’ve just been a victim of ‘too-much-bicarb syndrome’.
‘You may be entitled to compensation..’ Actually, no you won’t, but you can ensure that you’re never responsible for this baking travesty happening on your watch.
Soda Bicarb is a great aid to nicely risen bread and cakes, and you may think, ‘oh it raised my scones/bread/whatever really well, so I’ll add a bit more this time’. Just let me stop you right there and say, in a serious tone, with no trace of humour: “Don’t do it!”
A 5g (level)teaspoon, and a 5g (also level) teaspoon of fine salt per 325g of plain flour is the ideal amount. Bicarb can get a lumpy in the tin, so always sift it into your flour.
Don’t be tempted to add an extra drop ‘for luck’. Measure it every time, using a flat-bladed knife to level it off.
Trust me, it’s worth the effort.
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx