Whole Wheat Soda Bread: bread ready in 30 minutes without rising
If you’d like to bake bread but don’t feel ready yet. If the very word Sourdough fills you with despair, if you never had the desire nor the patience to follow natural fermentation but you’d still absolutely love to be able to say “I made this bread myself!” — don’t panic: from today there’s a solution: Soda Bread.
Typical bread of Irish origin, Irish Soda Bread does not require any type of natural yeast (neither brewer’s yeast nor sourdough starter).
You simply add baking soda as the leavening agent. This reacts immediately with acids and acts as the raising agent.
The recipe to make soda bread at home is very simple and the rising process is completely absent; for this reason you can turn on the oven even before you start preparing because as soon as the ingredients are mixed you can put it straight into the oven!
As with all traditional recipes – it is part of the typical menu for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 – there are endless variations, although the ingredients that must never be missing are baking soda and buttermilk (don’t worry, you can make it at home in a moment if you can’t find it ready-made). Since I discovered there is even an official Irish body that certifies its authenticity, it was worth trying the official recipe!!!
Not being a leavened bread the result won’t be aerated but you will still get a very soft, floury bread perfect for your breakfasts spread with butter and jam perhaps, to stay on the English theme accompanied by a hot tea. All that’s left is to prepare the soda bread to bring the goodness and fragrance of homemade bread to the table in no time!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 2 cups Whole wheat flour
- 1 2/3 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Fine salt
- 1 Egg
- 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 1/2 cup Part-skim milk
- 1/2 cup Low-fat yogurt (or 1/2 tablespoon (about 1 1/2 tsp) lemon juice)
Preparation
If you can’t find it at the supermarket (some large chains are starting to carry it) making it at home is very simple. It’s a kind of sour cream that can be substituted in two ways: either by mixing 1/2 cup of part-skim milk with 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice and letting the mixture rest at room temperature for 20 minutes, or by mixing part-skim milk and low-fat yogurt in equal proportions (1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup yogurt) and, again, letting the mixture rest for 20 minutes.
For this preparation, if you have one you can comfortably use a stand mixer (with the hook) or knead by hand. Put the two flours sifted into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the salt and baking soda and continue to mix quickly. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk with the egg and honey, then, when the liquids are well combined, add them to the flours continuing to mix but do not overwork the dough. The dough will be fairly soft.
At this point pour the mixture directly into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and make small cuts on the surface; this will help the baking because the cuts will be an escape route for the gases produced by the baking soda.
Bake in a preheated fan oven at 356°F for about 25-30 minutes, taking care that the surface does not burn.
Remove from the oven and from the pan and let your Soda Bread cool wrapped in a tea towel so that the crust remains crisp.
Notes
One of the secrets for a good soda bread is to handle the dough very little and to bake it immediately.
If you like, you can enrich the bread by sprinkling the surface before baking with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or pumpkin seeds.
You can store it closed in a plastic bag for 2-3 days or freeze it and thaw at room temperature when you want to eat it.
I baked it in a loaf pan because in the morning at breakfast I find it more practical to slice, but the original recipe calls for a round baking tray. In any case, wherever you decide to bake it prepare to enjoy a bread you’ve never tasted before.
If you liked this recipe you might also like this Whole wheat sandwich loaf or this Black focaccia with 7 cereals
