If you’re new to bread making, soda bread is a great place to start, as it’s far less temperamental than yeast-risen breads.

Soda bread is quick, simple and delicious, and ideal for any baking novice who thinks their can’t make bread or thinks they need a fancy mixer or bread machine to do so.

You have a natural free bread maker in your palms and knuckles, and this easy recipe – with no kneading or proving time – is an ideal dish to introduce you to the wonders of bread making, and at the same time help you celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

I have been making (and eating) Irish soda bread for a long as I can remember, and every March Ii look forward to St Patrick’s Day, where I celebrate with my own special version of the Irish classic, being less traditional from the plainer and more restrained recipe from the heartland.

My adapted recipe includes a savoury and sweet twist using Guinness, apples and Cheddar cheese, which work wonderfully well together, making it perfectly light and fluffy with a hint of Cheddar tang against the sweetness of the apple. It can be rustled up in a few minutes as a munchable meal on it’s own or a fine accompaniment for any soups, being ideal for entertaining, having that ‘wow’ factor and smell when it comes out of the oven at anytime of day. Let me tell you, there is nothing on this earth as good as a slice of soda bread just out of the oven, almost too hot to handle, smeared with butter and washed down with that essential cuppa!

Happy St Patrick’s Day, and bake like a Celt!

A history lesson about St Patrick and soda bread St Patrick was born in England in the fourth century AD and was captured by pirates as a child and taken to Ireland.

During his enslavement, he escaped his captors after six years. He returned to Ireland as a missionary with strong Irish pagan beliefs with Christian sacraments, devising the Celtic Cross. Today, he is annually honoured on March 17 with soda bread, associated with him and Ireland. Soda bread is a quick bread leavened with baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast, which means you don’t need to wait for it to rise.

The traditional ingredients used to make soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk, the buttermilk being a thin liquid run off after being churned from buttermaking and having a slightly sour, acidic taste containing lactic acid. This reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide to give it a kick-start, helping to make a beautiful, tender, soft inner core.

Other ingredients can be used, like butter, honey, eggs, raisins, nuts, cheese and onions.

The Irish did not invent soda bread, but it is most often identified with them, probably from the potato famine of 1845, which popularised the bread. The American Indians were credited for the creation centuries ago, where they used wood ash to make the bread rise.

The cross on top of the soda bread has several explanations. Legend has it that folks did it to ‘let the devil out’ while baking for good luck. It was also said to be a symbol for a cross during Christian holidays, but my theory is it makes it easy to divide into four pieces. Trust me on this one, I’m a baker!

Baker Mike’s top tips for fantastic soda bread

  • Baking powder, once open, starts to deteriorate after three months, which could affect the rise
  • Buttermilk can be substituted for milk, cream, sour cream or natural yogurt, or a combination of these
  • Wholemeal flour can also be added instead of porridge oats, or half and half with the white flour or all wholemeal or white
  • It’s critical, once mixed, the oven is up to temperature and ready to go
  • Soda bread has many interesting flavours and combinations – be adventurous!
  • Soda bread is ideal and quick to make 

RECIPE

Ingredients 500g bread or plain white flour 100g porridge oats 10g salt 20g baking powder 2 dessert apples, roughly chopped 150g grated Cheddar cheese 50ml olive oil 200ml butter milk or milk 200ml Guinness

Method 1. Pre-heat the oven, 220°C or 425°F/gas mark seven 2. Line a baking tray with parchment baking paper 3. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, salt, oats and baking powder, adding the chopped apple and 100g of the cheese – mix in well 4. Make a well in the centre and combine the oil, buttermilk and Guinness, and pour into the dry ingredients 5. The next is the most important part of making good soda bread – the less you handle the mixture, the lighter and tastier that loaf will be. Feather your hand out like a giant fork and gently combine the ingredients – this should take no more than a minute, and the mixture should only be just combined; we don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour 6. Put plenty of flour on your work surface and tip your mixture out 7. Shape the dough into two equal rounds (don’t knead it, just pat out to a side plate size) then transfer onto the baking trays, scoring a cross half-way through with a sharp knife, sprinkling on the remaining cheese 8. Bake in the pre-heated oven, near the middle, for about 30- 35 minutes until golden brown, well risen and hollow when tapped 9. Transfer onto a cooling rack and serve warm – best eaten on the day it is baked