IRISH SODA BREAD -- introduction and recipes (Including recipes for white soda, brown soda, treacle bread, golden soda, currant soda) Ireland's climate presents an immediate problem for the baker. In the cool, wettish climate, the hard wheats, which make flour with a high gluten content, don't prosper. All-purpose white and whole wheat flour -- what the Irish and British call "strong white" or "strong wholemeal" -- always has a large amount of the softer wheats mixed in: otherwise the price would be ridiculous. Generally, unless people here go out of their way to buy the more expensive "bread flour", with an increased (and increasingly expensive) percentage of imported hard-wheat flours mixed in, yeast breads tend not to be terrifically successful. With this in mind, the Irish did what was probably the most sensible thing: for everyday baking, they gave up on yeast and came to depend mostly on other leavening agents, like "bread soda" (just plain bicarbonate of soda, to US users). Hence "soda bread". Buttermilk is the preferred mixing liquid: its acidity activates the bicarb, releasing the CO2 that makes the bread rise. Soda bread comes in two main colors, brown and white, and two main types: "cake" and "farl". The latter are mostly regional differences. People in the south of Ireland tend to make cake: people up North seem to like farl better (though both kinds appear both in the North and South, sometimes under wildly differing names). "Cake" is soda bread kneaded and shaped into a flattish round, then cut with a cross on the top (to let the bread stretch and expand as it rises in the oven) and baked on a baking sheet. Farl is rolled out and cut crosswise into four pieces (the "farls") and usually baked in a heavy frying pan or on a griddle, on top of the range rather than in the oven. You may hear these referred to as "brown cake", "soda cake", "soda farl", "brown farl", "wheaten bread", and any combination of numerous other weird terms. (Yes, it gets confusing over here. You learn pretty quickly at the baker's to point and say, "Please, just give me one of those.") With all this said, the basic bread is extremely simple. The urge to be resisted is to do more stuff to it than necessary...this is usually what keeps it from coming out right the first few times. Once you've mastered the basic mixture, though, you can start adding things, coming up with wonderful variations like treacle bread and so on. Here's the basic recipe for white soda bread: 450 g / 1 lb / 3 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda Between 300-600 ml / 1/2 to 1 UK pint / 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups sour milk or buttermilk, to mix "Sour milk" isn't milk that's gone bad. It's milk that has had a couple of teaspoons of buttermilk stirred into it, has been put in a scalded container and wrapped in a towel, and left in some peaceful corner at about 75 degrees F for 24 hours. The original Irish name is *bainne clabhair*, "clabbered milk", or "bonnyclabber" as the Scots have anglicized it. The flavor isn't *quite* as tart as buttermilk, but there's enough acid to make the bicarb react correctly. If you don't have time to do sour milk, buttermilk will do perfectly well. Sweet milk doesn't work as well, and your bread may not rise correctly: if you're going to use sweet milk, use baking powder instead of bicarbonate of soda. First, decide whether you're making farl or cake. If farl, find your heaviest frying pan (cast iron is best) and put it on to preheat at a low-medium heat. (You're going to have to experiment with settings. Farl should take about 20 minutes per side to get a slight toasty brown.) If making cake, preheat the oven to 450 F and find a baking sheet. Full preheating is vital for soda bread. Sift the dry ingredients together several times to make sure the bicarb is evenly distributed. Put them in a good big bowl (you want stirring room) and make a well in the center. Pour about half the buttermilk or sour milk or whatever in, say about a cup and a quarter, and start stirring. You are trying to achieve a dough that is raggy and very soft, but the lumps and rags of it should look dryish and "floury", while still being extremely squishy if you poke them. Add more liquid very sparingly if you think you need it. Blend until the whole mass of dough has become this raggy consistency. Then turn the contents of the bowl out immediately onto a lightly floured board, and start to knead. The chief concern here is speed: the chemical reaction of the bicarb with the buttermilk started as soon as they met, and you want to get the bread into the oven while the reaction is still running on "high". DON'T OVERKNEAD. You do not want the traditional "smooth, elastic" ball of dough you would expect with a yeast bread; you simply want one that contains almost everything that went into the bowl, in one mostly cohesive lump. You should not spend more than a minute or so kneading...the less, the better. You *don't* want to develop the gluten in the flour. If you do, you'll get a tough loaf. Once you're done kneading, shape the bread. For cake, flatten the lump of dough to a circle about 6-8 inches in diameter, and put it on the baking sheet. Then use a very sharp knife to cut a cross right across the circle: the cuts should go about halfway down through the sides of the circle of dough, so that the loaf will "flower" properly. If you're making farl, use the same very sharp knife to cut the circle of dough into four wedges. Try not to crush or compress the dough where you cut it (if the knife is sharp enough, you won't). Then bake. When putting cake in the oven, handle it lightly and don't jar it: the CO2 bubbles are a little vulnerable at this point of the process. Let it alone, and don't peek at it. It should bake for 45 minutes at 450F. If making farl, dust the hot griddle or frying pan with a little flour, and put the farls in gently. The cut edges should be 1/2 inch or so apart to allow for expansion. Give the farls 20 minutes on a side: they should be a sort of mocha-toasty color before you turn them. Keep an eye on the heat: they scorch easily. The heat should be quite "slow". If you're making cake: At the end of 45 minutes, pick up the loaf and tap the bottom. A hollow sound means it's done. For a very crunchy crust, put on a rack to cool. For a softer crust, wrap the cake in a clean dishcloth as soon as it comes out of the oven. Both ways, the soda bread is wonderful split and toasted. Best served hot, though, with sweet butter and / or the jam or jelly of your choice. Soda farl is also one of the most important ingredients of the Ulster Fry, the world's most dangerous breakfast. Fried eggs, fried Irish bacon, fried soda farl, fried potato farl (a 1/2- inch thick potato bread, also cooked on a griddle), fried black pudding, fried mushrooms...you get the picture. Not to be eaten every morning, and not for those closely watching their cholesterol...but wonderful every now and then. VARIATIONS: "Spotted Dog": add raisins, and maybe another teaspoon of sugar. "Currant soda": 1 1/2 lb flour, 4 oz currants, 4 oz raisins, 2 oz mixed candied peel, 3 oz butter, 1 tsp bicarb, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, buttermilk to mix (judge it by eye, as above). Sieve the dry ingredients together; rub in the butter; add the fruit. Add the buttermilk, roll out very lightly, cut into farls, and bake as for farl above. "Golden soda": substitute about 1 cup of fine-ground cornmeal for a cup of the flour. A really heretical variation: Add chopped Jalapeno peppers to the dry ingredients. Mix and bake as above. (My mother-in- law will probably whack me one if she ever catches me doing this. But it does taste wonderful.) For "Brown soda" / "wheaten bread": 4 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup white flour Scant 1/2 cup oatmeal 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon salt 2-3 cups sour milk or buttermilk Mix and bake exactly as above. If you have trouble with this one rising, your local mixture of whole wheat flour may be responsible: try decreasing the amount of whole wheat and increasing the white flour. "Treacle bread": 2 tablespoons dark molasses 7 fl oz milk (approximately) 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar 1 lb flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda Good pinch of ground ginger Heat the molasses and milk together. Mix all dry ingredients together: add liquid until a soft dough is achieved. With floured hands, shape into a round cake about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into farls, put on a floured baking sheet and bake at 400F for 40 minutes.