Ballyvolane House Soda Bread (Brown & White)

Ballyvolane House Brown Soda Bread

This recipe makes 2 bread loaves.

Preheat the oven to 200˚c, grease a couple of bread tins with butter spray & place a large bowl/basin onto weighing scales.

Now add the following ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of coarse wholemeal flour
• one handful of wheat bran
• two handfuls of wheat germ
• pinhead oatmeal up to 21/4 lbs on scales
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp of sieved bread soda (bicarb)

Mix dry ingredients well, then add 1 litre of buttermilk & stir until the buttermilk is mixed through all the dry ingredients. Divide into 2 greased bread tins, sprinkle with pinhead oatmeal & bake for 1 hour on a high shelf.

Ballyvolane House White Soda Bread

This recipe makes 1 bread loaf.

Ingredients

• 450 g (1lb) plain flour
• 1 level tsp salt
• 1 level tsp bread soda (bicarb)
• 450ml (14 fl oz) buttermilk

Method

Preheat oven to 250 degrees centigrade/ 475 f/ gas 9.

Sieve the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre. Pour in all of the milk at once. Using 1 hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched like a claw, stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever-increasing circles. The dough should be softish not too we and sticky. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.

Tidy up and flip over gently. Pat the dough into a round about 1.5 inches deep. Cut a deep cross on the loaf and prick in the four corners to let the fairies out!

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn down to 22 degree c/400 degrees f/ gas 6 for 30 mins or until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread; when it is cooked it will sound hollow. Cool on a wire rack.

Note: Soda breads are best eaten on the day they are made but are still good for a day or so more.