Being a decent lad from an Irish mother, I feel it only right to include something from the Emerald Isle at this time, Paddy’s day has just passed us by and, with a distinct lack of Guinness consumed (due to work excesses/mothers day), we’ll have to plug the gap left with something equally traditional from the Irish cooking repertoire!
Bring forth an old recipe that was originally used to use up sour milk! sounds tasty.
We’ve moved on a bit from then, thankfully, so have now replaced the soured milk with butter milk, which in the olden days was the liquid left over from producing butter, but now is made from low-fat milk with added lactic acid bacteria and is more akin to yoghurt than milk. Still sounds tasty?.. It is, bear with me!
The great thing about soda bread is its simplicity, no yeast to worry about and even better, no kneading or proving. Just mix the ingredients together, place it in the oven, cook it, eat it. simple. It goes with anything, Irish stews (in fact any stews!), soups, toasted with jam, buttered and dipped into Guinness (!) however you fancy…
Recipe: Irish Soda Bread. Makes 1 smallish loaf.
- 220g wholemeal flour (plain).
- 80g plain white flour.
- 280ml butter milk.
- 1 egg yolk.
- 10g butter.
- 1/2 tsp salt.
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp soft brown sugar (black treacle or honey can be used to substitute).
- 50g porridge oats.
- Mix all ingredients together.
- Place in lightly greased loaf or cake tin.
- It needs to be quite wet, not sloppy, but pretty tacky, and really only just hold its shape in a tin. this will produce a nice crumbly texture that we’re after without being too dense and heavy.
- Cook at 175c (fan oven) for about 45mins or until nicely coloured and hollow sounding when tapped on the underneath.
Buttermilk can vary a little in consistency, so if the dough is too dry add a bit more, or a bit of normal milk until corrected.
