"It's my destiny to be the King of Pain"..(Pain....as in the French for bread!)......Introducing the King of Irish bread!

Plain or fruit?..........which one are you?

They say you can tell a lot about an Irish person from their choice of soda bread or 'scone bread' as it is known here in our border region...... I'm a bit sceptical about that but I'm sure there's many an argument takes place across this isle as to whether one should have fruit or not in ones loaf, or to even have it as a loaf or should one eat it as a farl......a 'farl' being when the dough is cut into triangles and baked on a griddle rather than in the oven.



Everybody seems to have their preference,.......but me? I prefer a fruity soda loaf with sultanas and lots of cherries........ no currants or mixed peel for me! than you very much, but on second thought there's nothing like a piece of toasted soda farl with your fried breakfast...... a bacon and egg soda farl....available in many a cafe in Derry!

Soda bread is the quintessential Irish bread and at one time everybody and their mother had their own recipe!

Growing up in Ireland, the making of soda bread was a second nature exercise, there was no weighing out of ingredients involved, it was a cup of this a cup or two of that, a spoonful here and a spoonful there, and by watching mammy make her bread you learned to know just by looking in the 'mason cash' mixing bowl that your measurements were correct......sadly it is an occurrence you see less and less in Irish homes and a skill I fear may be lost to this next generation.



Of all breads, the Irish soda loaf is the easiest to make and is simply delicious, and in this our National Bread Week, Irish soda bread certainly deserves top place in the list of Irish breads, if not great world breads! so have a go at making your own for it takes mere minutes.

Traditional Farmhouse Soda: makes 1 loaf

500 g plain flour + 1 level teaspoon of baking soda OR use soda bread flour which has soda already added

1 level teaspoon of salt

50 g salted butter

400 ml buttermilk

a heavy bread tin or small roasting tin just big enough to hold the loaf.....I use a round cake tin!

a little extra butter melted......just for the tin 

how to make your loaf:

• heat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade
• sieve the flour, salt and soda into a big mixing bowl
• rub in the 50 g of butter
• if adding fruit....now's the time to do it.....make sure it is clean and there are no sticks in the sultanas etc.
• place your tin in the oven to heat while you are adding the milk to the flour........why? that's just how it  was done in the cottages of Donegal, the butter not only prevents the loaf from sticking to the tin but it also gives a lovely nutty under crust to the loaf.......you can of course just butter your tin and not bother putting it in the oven
• make a well in the middle of the flour add 3/4 of the buttermilk and using a metal spoon mix the flour into the milk working from the outside to the centre
• keep mixing until it begins to form a dough.....too dry? then add more buttermilk
• when the dough begins to come together get in with your hands and mix a little longer then scrape your bowl out onto a floured surface
• knead your dough lightly for a few seconds and give it the shape of your tin, remove your tin from the oven, brush with melted butter, put in your dough, cut a cross in the top if you wish and put the tin back in the oven
• bake for approx 20 mins until well risen and nicely browned on top
• turn out of the tin and cool on a wire rack
• slice thickly, spread with butter and your granny's blackberry jam and enjoy!

Chef's Notes:

you can try this recipe as a wheaten soda, just use equal quantities of wholemeal flour and white flour, if using white soda bread flour then you need to add half a level teaspoon of baking soda for the wholemeal flour.

when making a fruit loaf you can add 120 g of fruit per 500 g of flour, try adding a heaped teaspoon of mixed spice to a fruit scone too....it's very tasty!