I love bread in all its forms, and I think there’s probably not a loaf I don’t like. Except maybe pumpernickel – I still haven’t quite come to terms with how to eat it, though I like the flavour. It always reminds me of the Baby-Sitter’s Club as it could always be found at Dawn “Kale-Juice-Drinking-Bitch”* Schafer’s house. HEALTH FOOD.
I love soda bread and damper, which I make often, but it wasn’t until recently that I managed to actually nail brown soda bread. I have mentioned before how I tried to make it one other time and it was so horrific I really just couldn’t come at the thought of attempting it again (these tips will help, and make you nostalgic for soda bread-baking Irish grandmothers).
But attempt it I did, and it was so good I ate almost the whole thing in one go. I ate it toasted for breakfast for the next several days and have been happily making it regularly ever since. It’s like pringles – once you pop, you can’t stop. It has such a unique flavour (nutty and slightly sweet) that it develops itself into one hell of a craving and the only way to survive is to make this brown bread regularly. With PLENTY of salted, good-quality butter.
Ok jam too if you want. Marmalade even! GOLDEN SYRUP. Tick!
PrintTraditional Brown Soda Bread
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Irish
Description
Once you make this loaf, you won’t ever be able to forget it!
Ingredients
- 250g wholemeal flour
- 200g plain white flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarb
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 350ml buttermilk (you may need more or less, depending)
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C
- In a large bowl, combine the flours and bicarb.
- In a small bowl or jug, beat the egg with the buttermilk and honey until combined.
- Add to the flour mix and stir until it comes together to form a dough. You may need a little extra buttermilk here, it should be quite soft.
- Form into a round loaf and place on a tray. Cut a cross into the top of the dough (to let the fairies out, of course!)
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove from the heat and wrap in a clean tea towel to prevent the crust from getting too hard.
Notes
Based on the Bord Bira recipe.
Keywords: brown bread, Irish brown bread, brown soda bread, Irish soda bread, Irish wheaten bread, wheaten soda bread, traditional wheaten soda bread,
*Carly once called her this in one of our podcast episodes and I may have died laughing. I very much enjoy our confusion about mathematics.
Rebecca Senyard says
I’ve never made bread before. But I think I can attempt this recipe. I love bread too… with melted butter. I bet the house smells amazing after baking this!
francesco caselli says
This is delicious! I will prepare this evening for my partner. Thank you very much