White Soda Bread
White Soda Bread and Scones Soda breads are the traditional breads of our country. Making a loaf of soda bread is a simple life skill that everyone should know. A loaf or a tray of scones will be made in minutes and out of the oven before you find your car keys to drive to the shop!
Ingredients
- Plain white flour 1 level teaspoon
- Bicarbonate of soda 1 level teaspoon
- Salt
- 350-400ml (12-14fl oz) sour milk or buttermilk (the quantity depends on the thickness of the milk)
Method
Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/Gas Mark 8. Soda bread is best cooked in a conventional oven rather than a fan or convection oven.
Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Make a well in the centre and pour most of the milk in at once.
Using one hand with the fingers stiff and outstretched, mix in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl, gradually drawing in the flour from the sides.
Add a little more milk if necessary – shop bought buttermilk is thinner than farm-fresh, so you will need less rather than more.
The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. The trick with all soda breads is not to overmix the dough - mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When it all comes together - a matter of seconds - turn it out onto a well-floured work surface.
WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS, then dust them with flour.
Tidy up the dough and flip it over gently. Pat into a round, about 4cm (1 1/2 inch) deep. Gather some of the excess flour from the worktop and sprinkle it on the centre of the baking tray.
With a sharp knife, cut a deep cross on top and prick the four corners with the tip of your knife to let the fairies out, otherwise they will jinx your bread!
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6 and bake for 30 minutes more, until cooked.
If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread - if it's fully cooked, it will sound hollow. Allow to cook on a wire rack.
A little White Soda Bread Loaf Make the loaf as in master recipe but add 425ml (15fl oz) buttermilk and scoop it into the oiled 450g (1lb) loaf tin – 13cm x 20cm (5 inch x 8 inch).
Sprinkle with oatmeal and sesame seeds or kibbled wheat seeds if you enjoy them. This is more convenient for slicing or using as sandwiches.
Makes 1 round loaf 450g (1lb approx.)
Traditional Brown Soda Bread
The buttermilk in the shops is low fat so if you don't have access to rich, thick buttermilk, it’s essential to add extra butter and cream.
Ingredients
- Brown wholemeal flour (preferably stone-ground)
- 225g (8oz) plain white flour
- 1 teaspoon salt 1 level teaspoon bread soda (Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda) sieved 12-25g
- (1/2 – 1oz) of butter or 2 tablespoons of fresh or even sour cream
- 1 free range egg 300-325ml
- (10-11fl oz) sour milk or buttermilk a sprinkling of wholemeal flour for the work top and baking sheet.
Makes 1 loaf 225g (8oz)
Method
First preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8.
Mix the wholemeal and white flour in a large bowl.
Add the carefully measured salt and sieved bicarbonate of soda.
Mix well, add the diced butter and rub into the flour to resemble coarse breadcrumbs.
Crack an egg into a measuring jug, whisk with a fork, then add the buttermilk to measure 325-350ml (11-12fl oz) in total.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in most of the liquid and mix in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl to form a dough (add a little more buttermilk if necessary).
Wash and dry your hands.
Sprinkle wholemeal flour on the worktop, turn the dough onto the floured surface.
With floured hands, shape the dough into a round, about 5cm (2 inch) thick. Flip over and tidy around the edges.
Slide your floured hand underneath and transfer to a floured baking tray.
Cut a deep cross, the traditional blessing and prick in the four corners to let the fairies out of the bread.
Put into the preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and cook for 25 minutes or until the loaf looks baked.
Flip the loaf over for 5-10 minutes at the end of cooking to make sure it’s fully cooked – it should sound hollow when tapped on the base.
Cool on a wire rack, wrapped in a clean tea-towel while hot if you prefer a softer crust.
To serve Break the bread in two, cut into thick slices from the heel, traditionally served slathered with butter. Best eaten on the day it’s made.
Spotted Dog
During my childhood, many people in the country were poor, and their daily staple would have been wholemeal bread. White flour was more expensive than brown so white soda bread was considered to be more luxurious – a treat for special occasions.
Nowadays, this does not seem such a big deal but back then any money that the woman of the house got from selling her eggs was considered to be her 'pin money,' used for little luxuries such as hatpins. Putting an egg into the bread was one egg less that she could sell, so it actually represented much more than it would for us today. This bread was called Spotted Dog, and when it was still warm, she’d wrap it in a tea towel and bring it out to the fields with hot sweetened tea in whiskey bottles wrapped in newspaper or cloth to insulate them.
Spotted Dog
Ingredients
- Plain white flour, preferably unbleached
- 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 level teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar 75g (3oz) sultanas
- 1 organic egg
- 350 - 425ml (12-14fl oz) buttermilk
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
In a large mixing bowl, sieve in the flour and bicarbonate of soda; then add the salt, caster sugar and sultanas.
Mix well by lifting the flour and fruit up into your hands and then letting them fall back into the bowl through your fingers. This adds more air and therefore more lightness to your finished bread.
Now make a well in the centre of the flour mixture.
Break the egg into the base of a measuring jug and add the buttermilk to the 425ml (14fl oz) line (the egg is part of the liquid measurement).
Pour most of this milk and egg mixture into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour mixture from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, but not too wet and sticky.
The trick with Spotted Dog, like all soda breads, is not to over mix the dough. Mix it as quickly and gently as possible, thus keeping it light and airy.
When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured worked surface.
WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS. Roll around gently with floury hands for a second, just enough to tidy it up.
Flip over and flatten slightly to about 5cm (2 inch) approx.
Transfer to a baking tray lightly dusted with flour. Cut the surface with a deep cross and prick in each corner to let the fairies out of the bread.
Let the cuts go over the sides of the bread to make sure of this inches) deep.
Put into the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
Cook for 35-40 minutes. If you are in doubt about the bread being cooked, tap the bottom: if it is cooked it will sound hollow.
This bread is cooked at a lower temperature than soda bread because the egg browns faster at a higher heat. Serve freshly baked, cut into thick slices and smeared with butter and jam.
Spotted Dog is also really good eaten with Cheddar cheese.
Makes 1 loaf 450g (1lb)
Variation American Emigrant’s Soda Bread Caraway seeds and sultanas were added to soda bread in Ireland long ago, but the tradition went by the wayside. Not so in America, where soda bread often has caraway seeds and sultanas in it. Usually when I go to the US, I take Irish recipes there, but I was delighted to bring this one back to Ireland! Simply add 1 - 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds to the Spotted Dog recipe and proceed as above (the amount of caraway will depend on the freshness of the caraway seeds).
Tomato Fondue
Tomato fondue is one of our great convertibles, it has a number of uses, we serve it as a vegetable or a sauce for pasta, filling for omelettes, topping for pizza. Tomato fondue freezes well.
Serves 6 approximately
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 110g (4oz) sliced onions 1 clove of garlic crushed
- 900g (2lbs) very ripe tomatoes in Summer, or 2 tins (x 14oz) of tomatoes in Winter, but peel before using
- salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste
- 1 tablespoon of any of the following; freshly chopped mint, thyme, parsley, lemon balm, marjoram or torn basil Heat the oil in a stainless-steel sauté pan or casserole.
Method
Add the sliced onions and garlic toss until coated, cover and sweat on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured – about 10 minutes.
It is vital for the success of this dish that the onions are completely soft before the tomatoes are added. Slice the peeled fresh tomatoes or chopped tinned tomatoes and add all the juice to the onions.
Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar (tinned tomatoes need lots of sugar because of their high acidity). Add a generous sprinkling of herbs.
Cover and cook for just 10-20 minutes more, or until the tomato softens, uncover and reduce a little.
Cook fresh tomatoes for a shorter time to preserve the lively fresh flavour.
Tinned tomatoes need to be cooked for longer depending on whether one wants to use the fondue as a vegetable, sauce or filling. Note: A few drops of Balsamic vinegar at the end of cooking greatly enhances the flavour.
Mummy's Sweet White Scones
Makes 9-10 scones using a 7 1/2 cm (3 inch) cutter
Ingredients
- 450g (1lb) plain white flour
- 75g (3oz) butter
- 2 small free-range eggs
- pinch of salt 25g (1oz) castor sugar
- 1 heaped teaspoon plus
- 1 rounded teaspoon baking powder 200ml (7fl oz) approx.
- Milk to mix Glaze Egg Wash (see below) crunchy Demerara sugar or coarse granulated sugar for coating the top of the scones.
Method
First preheat the oven to 250°C/475°F/Gas Mark 9.
Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a large wide bowl.
Cut the butter into cubes, toss in the flour and rub in the butter.
Make a well in the centre.
Whisk the eggs, put into a measure and add milk to bring the liquid up to 300ml (10fl oz), add all but 2 tablespoons (save to egg wash the top of the scones to help them to brown in the oven) to the dry ingredients in one go and mix to a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured worktop. Don't knead but shape just enough to make a round. Roll out to about 21/2cm (1inch) thick and cut or stamp into scones.
* Brush the tops with egg wash and dip each one in crunchy Demerara or coarse granulated sugar. Put onto a baking tray – no need to grease. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes until golden brown on top. Cool on a wire rack. Serve split in half with home made jam and a blob of whipped cream or just butter and jam.
* Top Tip – Stamp them out with as little waste as possible, the first scones will be lighter than the second rolling.
Fruit Scones
Add 50g (2oz) plump sultanas to the above mixture when the butter has been rubbed in. Continue as above.
Strawberry, Raspberry or Blueberries Scones
Add 50g (2oz) of chopped fresh strawberries or whole raspberries or blueberries to the dry ingredients and increase the sugar by 10g (1/2oz).