Soda Bread Recipe
Soda Bread Recipe – Where it Came From
Soda Bread Recipe
The soda bread recipe is a quick way of making bread used in many different countries. So, expect to find plenty of recipes for this kind of bread. But what makes all these varieties similar is the use of sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, as a raising agent instead of yeast.
Traditionally, the ingredients used for the soda bread are buttermilk, salt, bread soda, and flour. Sometimes, the buttermilk is replaced with yogurt. Other ingredients may be added like nuts, eggs, and raisins.
In normal bread, yeast ferments and reacts with the other ingredients expanding the mixture. Baking soda, on the other hand, will only form small bubbles. This is due to the carbon dioxide.
Today, different varieties of soda bread recipe are available. But the recipe was actually first published in 1796 by Amelia Simmons in her book entitled, “American Cookery.” Mary Randolph also included her own version of the recipe as a cake in her 1824 book entitled, “The Virginia Housewife.”
But before the recipes were even published, historians say that the indigenous people of America have been using pearl ash or soda as the leavening agent.
Ingredients:
- * 500g plain flour
- * 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- * 1 tsp fine sea salt
- * Approx. 400ml buttermilk
Turn on the oven to 200C to heat up while you’re preparing the ingredients.
Put the bicarbonate of soda and flour together in a big mixing bowl and add the salt. Gradually add the butter milk, but first make a small well in the flour then stir continuously while adding the milk. It should end up as a soft sticky dough.
Spread some flour on a clean surface then tip the dough out and knead it for a few minutes but not too long! It needs to be put in the oven before the bicarbonate of soda stops working.
Put the dough on a floured baking tray and sprinkle with flour. If you like you can also cut a X into the dough with a sharp knife to make 4 loaves. Place the baking tray into the preheated oven (200C) for 40 minutes. When finished the loaf will sound hollow if tapped underneath.
Place on a cooling rack and then cut yourself a nice thick slice and spread with butter and your favorite jam!
The soda bread recipe also appeared in Europe during the middle of 19th century when soda bicarbonate became available as the rising agent. It also became popular in Austria as well as in the Polish cuisine. Even the British Isle has its own version of the recipe. Serbian cuisine also has breads, using soda bicarbonate, especially on their traditional soda bread recipe for Christmas.
The use of baking soda in this recipe has actually started a new revolution in bread making. Today, many other pastries like cakes use baking soda instead of other leavening or rising agents. Imagine, this simple and quick soda bread recipe has made a big difference in the world of cuisines.