Making Cooking Easy: The Best Of Chef Raphael
Irish soda bread is made with just four ingredients; flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk (sour milk). Soda bread gets its rise, not from yeast, but from the baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) reacting with the acid (soured milk or buttermilk). Buttermilk has a nice thick creamy texture with a rich tangy buttery taste that makes this bread tender. Whereas in the past it was the liquid leftover, after churning butter it is now commercially made by adding a bacteria to whole, skim, or low-fat milk. You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before using.
Chef Raphael – Bringing The Culinary Experience To Your Home
IRISH SODA BREAD
IRISH SODA BREAD RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour
2 – 4 tablespoons (25 – 50 grams) white sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt
4 tablespoons (55 grams) cold unsalted butter/Margarine (place in the fridge)
1 ⅓ – 1 ½ cups (320 – 360 ml) cold buttermilk
½ cup (80 grams) dark raisins (optional)
METHOD
STEP 1
In a suitable bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, margarine/butter and baking soda. Using your fingers mix the ingredients while crumbling the cold margarine to look like bread crumbs. Work fast as we don’t want the margarine/butter to melt.
STEP 2
Add the buttermilk and mix into the flour mixture, stir and form a soft dough. When adding the buttermilk, don’t add all of it at the same time, until it’s soft and moist. If you have the raisins, you can add them at this stage and mix into the dough.
STEP 3
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into a 7 inch (18 cm) round that is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick.
STEP 4
Place the round on your prepared baking sheet and then, with a sharp knife or clean kitchen scissors, cut a 1/4 inch deep “X” across the top of the bread.
STEP 5
Bake in a preheated oven(180ºC) for 40-50min or until it’s nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean. (You can also test that it is fully baked by tapping the bottom of the bread – it should sound hollow. Remove from the oven.)
This bread is wonderful when served warm with butter and jam. It also makes great toast!
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