Soda Bread
Four ingredients, thirty seconds of mixing and no proving. The loaf is in the oven before a yeasted dough has finished its first stir.
- Prep
- 10m
- Cook
- 40m
- Waiting
- 30m
- Total
- 1h 20m
- Serves
- one round loaf
- Effort
- Easy
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 250 g | Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly 2m The bicarbonate must be evenly spread or you get bitter yellow patches. | Stir with a table knife until it just comes together 2m Thirty seconds, no more. Kneading develops gluten and this loaf has no yeast to inflate it. | Shape into a round and cut a deep cross most of the way through 3m The cross opens the middle to the heat so the centre cooks before the crust hardens. | Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes until it sounds hollow underneath 40m | Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes 30m Steam has to escape. Left on the sheet, the base goes damp. | |
| 250 g | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 400 g | ||||||
| for dusting | ||||||
-
Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly
2m- wholemeal flour 250 g
- plain flour 250 g
- bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
- fine salt 1 tsp
The bicarbonate must be evenly spread or you get bitter yellow patches.
-
Stir with a table knife until it just comes together
2m- from 1 Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly
- buttermilk 400 g
Thirty seconds, no more. Kneading develops gluten and this loaf has no yeast to inflate it.
-
Shape into a round and cut a deep cross most of the way through
3m- from 2 Stir with a table knife until it just comes together
The cross opens the middle to the heat so the centre cooks before the crust hardens.
-
Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes until it sounds hollow underneath
40m- from 3 Shape into a round and cut a deep cross most of the way through
- plain flour for dusting
-
Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes
30m- from 4 Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes until it sounds hollow underneath
Steam has to escape. Left on the sheet, the base goes damp.
A chemical reaction on a clock
Bicarbonate of soda plus the lactic acid in buttermilk gives carbon dioxide, water and sodium lactate. Unlike yeast, that reaction is nearly instantaneous and it does not renew. Every minute the dough sits on the bench is gas lost to the air rather than trapped in the crumb, which is why speed matters more than technique here. It also explains the loaf’s texture — coarse and slightly crumbly, because there is no gluten network holding fine bubbles.
Notes
- Weigh the bicarbonate if you can. Too much and it tastes soapy with a yellowish crumb.
- The dough should be soft and sticky, closer to a scone mix than a bread dough. Dry dough bakes tight.
- It is at its best for about six hours, then it belongs in a toaster.