Making Irish Breads

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The traditional bread of Ireland is soda bread. Soda bread can be made with white or whole wheat flour.

Early Irish cooks bypassed yeast and used “bread soda” or “baking soda” because Irish flour was too soft to make yeast bread. The bread was cooked on a griddle set over the fire or in a bastable, which is a type of Dutch oven. In many parts of Ireland, soda bread is still shaped and baked as a round loaf with a cross marked on top.

What is Soda Bread?

Soda bread is a type of quick bread in which baking soda has been substituted for yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. Other ingredients can be added such as raisins or nuts.

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You might enjoy one of these Irish Breads

Tip: Soda bread can dry out quickly and is typically good for two to three days; it is best served warm or toasted.

	Basic Brown Soda Bread – This Basic Brown Soda Bread is made with buttermilk from a buttermilk plant. This is a simple, wholesome loaf that is delicious eaten fresh with butter, cheese or with a bowl of homemade soup.
	Buttermilk Walnut Scones – The buttermilk provides the moisture, the walnuts add a little crunchiness and the creamy cinnamon sugar topping puts these scones over the edge.
	Irish Freckle Bread – This is a very tender and flavorful loaf due to the combination of mashed potato, potato water, and eggs. It is great for toast and freezes well.
	Irish Soda Bread without raisins – This Irish Bread was baked in a casserole dish to provide structure to the bread.
	Make your own buttermilk dry yeast – This recipe makes a bunch of yeast cakes so you’ll have some left over for the next time you want to make a starter for delicious Alaskan Sourdough Pancakes or biscuits.

Make Your Own Buttermilk Plant

Buttermilk is an essential ingredient in traditional soda breads. It can be cultured very easily using a buttermilk plant. If you are looking for a fun experiment try making your own buttermilk plant for use in Irish Soda Breads and other recipes that call for buttermilk.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_bread
Campbell, Georgina. The Best of Irish Breads & Baking. Epicure Press 2006.