Baking Bread: Ireland

In the multimedia series "Baking Bread," EU correspondent Georg Matthes bakes 28 loaves from 28 EU countries and spices his baking instructions with typical anecdotes about each land. This time he bakes Irish soda bread.

Ingredients

• 380g strong bread flour
• 10g salt
• 6g bicarbonate of soda
• 390ml buttermilk
• 10g soft butter for greasing

 

And this is how you bake soda bread - Ireland’s quick-rise loaf:

1. Mix flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl.
2. Add the buttermilk and mix until fully absorbed. Do not overwork the dough, or it will not rise properly. It should feel somewhat sticky.
3. Preheat the over to 200°C. Grease a baking tray with butter.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll into a ball with your floured hands. Flatten slightly and transfer to the baking sheet.
5. Using a sharp knife, score a deep cross into the dough.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. During the final five minutes of baking, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C.
7. Use a wooden skewer to check if the bread has baked properly. If the skewer comes out clean, the bread is ready to come out of the oven.
8. Leave the bread to cool on a rack. It tastes best when it's still slightly warm.