Paulchens FoodBlog?!

This month sweet Ilva (yes you are so lovable and sweet Ilva, that’s why I am allowed to say this here. I might even hug you if I were there!) is servinga s the Kitchen Babe of the month and despite all the planning for Plate to Page she managed to gather us around here kitchen table and present us with this lovely bread.

Ilva wrote on our BBB blog:

I thought about soda breads. Now and then I have to make these early in the morning when I have forgotten to bake the day before and Nicola (yes the teenage terrorist) need bread for his lunch sandwich twice a week. I use a recipe from an Irish bread book (what else could I use, after all they are the masters of soda bread!) called The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen and I thought we could use another one in it with herbs in it now when summer is almost here! So here you are, I hope you will like it!

You bet we were relieved this was a quick bread this month don’t you?
But one without sourdough or even a squint of yeast?
Who the heck would want to throw baking soda into his bread?

Well rumor has it that the Irish do!

I have to say this Soda bread does not taste like your ordinary every day bread you know.
You’ll be surprised if you bake it for the first time. Among the Babes there were voices that liked it right away and others that did not like it at all. Maybe it is a kinda “love it or leave it” bread.

I love it.
The funny thing is over the past 17 years I have been to Ireland countless times and was served a lot of very enjoyable food but I can for the love of me not remember to have ever eaten soda bread there.
But I made soda bread before at home. I remember that Mrs Q. did not like it at all. Sweetheart on the other hand did not mind but then he seldom complains about things I cook or bake…

White Soda Bread with Herbs

from The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

1 loaf

450 g/1lb plain white flour (as always I used white spelt flour for this)
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved
1 dessert spoon each of rosemary, sage and chives, all freshly chopped
400 ml/ 14 fl oz buttermilk

1. Heat up the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F
2. Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda into a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the dry ingredients.
3. Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.
4. The trick with all soda breads is not to over-mix the dough. Mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.
5. Gently roll the ball of dough around with floury hands for a few seconds, just enough to tidy up. Then pat it gently into a round, about 5 cm/2 in high.
6. Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in the middle of it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Then prick the four triangles with your knife: according to Irish folklore this will let the fairies out!
7. Put this into your preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for a further 25 minutes, or until cooked. When the bread is cooked it will sound hollow when tapped.

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What actually is Soda bread?

Soda bread (Irish: arán sóide) is a variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate (otherwise known as baking soda) is used as a raising agent rather than the more common yeast.

The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide.

Other ingredients can be added such as raisins, egg or various nuts.

In Ireland, the flour is typically made from soft wheat; so soda bread is best made with a cake or pastry flour (made from soft wheat), which has lower levels of gluten than a bread flour. In some recipes, the buttermilk is replaced by live yoghurt or even stout. Bakers recommend the minimum amount of mixing of the ingredients before baking; the dough should not be kneaded.

Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made using either wholemeal or white flour. In Ulster the wholemeal variety is usually known as wheaten bread and normally sweetened, while the term “soda bread” is restricted to the white savoury form. In more southern parts of Ireland the wholemeal variety is usually known as brown soda and is almost identical to the Ulster wheaten.

source:wikipedia.com

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Don’t forget to visit my fellow Babes and see what they did with this lovely Bread this month.
Oh and don’t forget to visit Katie our BBBBB (Bitchin’ Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire) who writes up such lovely round ups of all the BBB Breads every month!

Bake My Day – Karen | blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth | Cookie Baker Lynn – Lynn | Feeding my enthusiasms – Pat | I Like To Cook – Sara | Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya | Lucullian Delights – Ilva | Notitie Van Lien – Lien |Wild Yeast – Susan

Canela and Comino – Gretchen (Babe on Hiatus) | Grain Doe – Görel (Babe on Hiatus) | Living on bread and water – Monique (Babe on Hiatus) | My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna (Babe on Hiatus) | The Sour Dough – Breadchick Mary (Babe on Hiatus) | Thyme For Cooking – Katie (Babe on Hiatus)

Thinking of you with Love: Glenna (Alumni Babe) | Sher (Angel Babe)

Bread Baking Babes Bread Baking Buddy

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