Cheese and spring onion and garlic soda bread – using he green bits
t actually a recipe, more a list of guidelines, suggestions, anecdotes and possibilities relating to the production of an easy way to make bread. It started off as a recipe (from the BBC) but a bit I’ve made it a number of times and have yet to make it the same way twice. However, every variation seems to work. I wouldn’t say it’s foolproof, but so far I haven’t managed to mess it up. However, like sales and poems, you are always judged on the next one, not what you have already done. To be fair, I actually used the recipe as a guideline in the first place as I had no wholemeal flour and no buttermilk. I did have salt and bicarbonate of soda, though I admit I reduced the amount of salt because I always do. Grossly overweight, various health problems, but I always use less salt because it’s a healthy thing to do. It’s like the captain of the Titanic giving a sailor a sticking plaster and telling him to fix the leak.
To start with, you need buttermilk according to the original recipe on the internet. I have also made it by adding lemon juice to milk and by adding yoghurt to milk. In fact, the first time I made this loaf I used milk and lemon juice.
Spring onion and cheese bread using all the onion
To do this, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk and leave for ten minutes. That’s four teaspoons or two dessert spoons. I actually used a dessert spoon of lemon juice because I always get mixed up. But it still worked. I’m tempted to say “heaped” spoonfuls and see if anyone actually tries.
You can, according to the internet, also use vinegar to provide the acid, or mix plain yoghurt and milk. The BBC recipe says 50:50 but other suggestions are available.
If you don’t have buttermilk for the soda bread recipe, you can use half-and-half plain yoghurt mixed with milk. You can also use milk that has been soured by stirring in a tablespoon of lemon juice and allowing it to stand for 10 minutes. Some recipes say you will get better results from allowing the milk to get to room temperature However, the chances of me planning that far in advance are small and it worked OK cold.
Bread and margarine – part of my extensive range of serving suggestions
OK – the measurements. Take 12oz plain flour (or All Purpose Flour if you are from USA), half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda, 10oz of buttermilk (or whatever you decide) and mix it. Do this by adding the dried ingredients and whisking them up with a fork them make a well in the middle and add 90% of the liquid.
Mix with the fork, add more liquid as necessary and then mix a bit more by hand. Don’t use both hands until you have a\ nice ball of dough – remember to keep one clean for opening ovens etc. Talking of which, when you start, you should pre-heat the oven to 200C or 180C Fan. Or about 400F and 360F.
You should end up with a fairly stiff dough ball of dough. Don’t overwork it. Round it off, pat it down and cut a cross in the top. That might help it cook better, or it may be a way of letting the fairies escape. I personally don’t think it helps it cook any better and just makes the slices a strange shape. And I recommend sweeping the kitchen regularly to get rid of fairies. Half the time my crosses look unimpressive, to say the least.
Cook for 30 minutes or thereabouts. When a tap on the bottom sounds like a drum, it probably isn’t cooked, despite what the books say. It should sound more like a snare drum – a bass drum means it isn’ quite cooked.
JUst ordinary soda bread
IF it’s OK, put i on a rack and cool it until you want to eat it. Try leaving it at least ten minutes as it’s better then.
For cheese and onion bread add about three spring onions cut into quarter inch pieces and about 100g of grated cheese. I buy the ready grated cheddar from the shop. For the garlic, I used one nice big, plump clove just a bit smaller than the top of my thumb, chopped very small.
I’m going to try powdered mustard in it at some point, and possibly Stilton. You can buy books on making soda bread. Some cost over £10. It’s only soda bread, how could you write a book about it?
Got
Bread that came from wet dough – the cross healed up
Serving suggestions – in a sandwich, with soup, with stew, with Italian food as toast. Warning – the garlic one is best with Italian food and not good with marmalade.
to go to bed now. If I’ve missed anything out let me know.
