Quick Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

Quick soda bread by Nigel Slater - the idea of baking the loaf in a preheated cast-iron casserole dish is a brilliant idea.

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Baking soda bread in a cast-iron casserole certainly speeds up cooking, but I just wish it had a bit more colour around the edge, which was a little bit disappointing.

Easy Soda Bread

Overall I was really pleased with how this loaf turned out with me not being a one for baking and all that.

Using the cast-iron casserole or did make it cook much quicker 25 minutes and it's done!

One thing's for sure, once the loaf was cut and smothered in butter, it tasted good. Whatever I would still make it this way again.

Soda bread doesn't require any kneading or proving! You might also like this Homemade Baked Beans Recipe - Proper Baked Beans on Soda Bread Toast recipe by Tom Kerridge, his bread is cooking in a more traditional way rather than speeding it up in a cast-iron casserole.

His 'Proper' Baked Beans are the best, the recipe is really worth checking out via the link above.

What is Soda Bread?

Soda bread is a variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate is used as a leavening agent instead of the traditional yeast. 

The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. Source Wikipedia.

Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream; most modern buttermilk is cultured, however.

It is common in warm climates where unrefrigerated fresh milk sours quickly.

How to Make Soda Bread

Irish soda bread, how to make soda bread, Nigel Slater lazy loaf

baking, bread, nigel slater,

Irish

Yield: 1 loaf

Author: Jan Bennett

Irish Soda Bread

Nigel Slater's idea of baking the loaf in a preheated cast-iron casserole dish is brilliant as it speeds up cooking.

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Ingredients

• 225g wholemeal flour
• 225g strong bread flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 450ml buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 8

1. Put a large casserole dish and its lid into the oven.
2. Mix the flours in a large mixing bowl along with the salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda together with your fingers.
3. Pour in the buttermilk, bringing the mixture together as a soft dough.
4. You have to work quickly as the bicarbonate of soda will start working immediately, shape the dough into a shallow round loaf about 4cm thick.
5. Remove the hot casserole dish from the oven and dust the inside lightly with flour and then lower in the dough.
6. Pop the lid on and return to the oven.
7. The bread should be ready after 25 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and leave in place for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
9. Leave the loaf to cool slightly before eating - soda bread is best eaten warm.

Did you make this recipe?

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