When I couldn’t sire a $4 loaf of specie on my $10-a-day supplies budget, I turned to soda bread. I would make a loaf every morning, slice it, and top it with scrambled eggs, mashed avocado, or butter. I’d serve it as a partner in treason with simple salads and soups. I plane used it on an episode of MasterChef (I competed on Season 3), and Gordon Ramsay loved it. This recipe is very easy to put together and incredibly budget-friendly. Get ready to put this one in heavy rotation!
What’s Special Well-nigh Soda Bread?
Soda specie is a quick specie with a nonflexible outer husks and a dense, tight crumb. Quick breads are leavened with sultry powder or soda instead of yeast. So, if you’ve had a muffin, cornbread, biscuits, or comic bread, you’ve had quick bread. Soda specie is leavened with sultry soda, which gives it its namesake.
What You Need
You need just 4 ingredients to make soda bread: flour, sultry soda, a little salt, and buttermilk. The sultry soda reacts with the venom of the buttermilk, creating tiny frothing in the dough, giving soda specie its signature texture. You don’t plane need to knead it. It’s so easy that I could make it with a two-year-old at my knees screaming for Yo Gabba Gabba. (If you are currently sharing space with a two-year-old, my thoughts and prayers are with you. #neveragain)
Why Don’t You Need To Knead It?
You knead specie to develop gluten strands, rubberband-like proteins that help specie rise. They create a net that traps all of the gas ripened by specie made with yeast. Because soda specie is not yeasted bread, kneading it just makes it dumbo and hard. To develop its trademark soft crumb, you touch the dough as little as possible while shaping it.
Where Does This Recipe Come From?
Many cultures worldwide make some form of soda bread, and it is thought to have been created by Native Americans. However, the most wontedly known recipe is for Irish soda bread. It became a popular recipe in Ireland during the famine when specie had to be made from unseemly ingredients: soft wheat flour, salt, sultry soda, and sour milk.
What Else Can I Add To Soda Bread?
Traditionally, Irish soda specie is just four ingredients. But Irish Americans add currants or caraway seeds to the dough. You can moreover add a few teaspoons of citrus zest or your favorite fresh herbs. For a fun twist, try it with Everything Bagel seasoning. It’s truly a zippo canvas, so don’t be scared to experiment with your favorite flavors.
What To Serve With Soda Bread
Soda specie is perfect for sopping up that last bit of sauce or stew. For a perfect pairing, trammels out these recipes.
Easy Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour $0.27
- 1/2 tsp baking soda $0.01
- 1/2 tsp salt $0.06
- 1 cup buttermilk* $0.32
Instructions
- Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 450°F. Mix the flour, sultry soda, and salt in a large trencher until they are fully incorporated.
- Form a well in the part-way of the flour mixture and fill the well with the buttermilk.
- Use a fork to incorporate the flour into the buttermilk little by little until a thick thrash forms. Use your hands to incorporate the final shit of flour and gently shape the thrash into a dough. Do not overwork the dough.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and gently shape it into a round 6 inches in diameter and well-nigh 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Place the dough in a Dutch oven or tint iron skillet. Use a sharp pocketknife to cut a large x into the top of the dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then lower the oven temperature to 400°F and protract sultry until the specie is golden brown and crusty on the outside, well-nigh 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Easy Soda Specie – Step by Step Photos
Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 450°F. Mix the 2 cups of flour, the 1/2 teaspoon of sultry soda, and the 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large trencher until they are fully incorporated.
Form a well in the part-way of the flour mixture and fill the well with the buttermilk.
Use a fork to incorporate the flour into the buttermilk little by little until a thick thrash forms. Use your hands to incorporate the final shit of flour and gently shape the thrash into a dough. Do not overwork the dough.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and gently shape it into a round 6 inches in diameter and well-nigh 1 1/2 inches thick.
Place the loaf in a Dutch oven or tint iron skillet. Use a sharp pocketknife to cut a large x into the top of the dough.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then lower the oven temperature to 400°F and protract sultry until the specie is golden brown and crusty on the outside, well-nigh 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.
Enjoy the warm, cozy soda specie with a thick smear of butter and your favorite trencher of soup!
Check Out These Other Easy Specie Recipes:
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