Irish Soda Bread

Soda Bread is one of those things I really do miss from back home. The recipe itself is super easy with the key ingredient being that of Bi-cardonate of Soda. In the past I have been unable to find it here in Amsterdam but a trip to an ex-pat shop was a success so happily I am able to make it again.
 
The recipe that I used is the one that my father used when I was a kid and I followed it to the letter. Modern versions of the recipe use butter milk and also add some porridge oats to the bread but to be perfectly honest the traditional way is easily the best. Also the whole process of getting the bread together takes about 5 minutes, so you really have no excuse not to try this.

Seeded Brown Bread

For me brown bread was always Irish Soda bread so when a friend showed me this recipe I was intrigued by it as it was very different to what I was use to. The one thing you realize when making it is that it is actually very simple to make you just need to remember a few important factors before you start.

- Flour Ratio: I like to have it 4 parts wholemeal to 1 part white flour. This is my personal taste but you can play around with these ratios if this bread is not to your liking.

- Never mix Yeast & Salt together: This is major rule, do not let your yeast get in contact directly with salt as it will counteract each other. Mix it in at separate occasions with your flour.

- Seed it up: I like to use Pumpkin, Sunflower & Sesame Seeds. I also use a deluxe muesli also. You can use any seeds you want in this recipe. I keep the ratios 5 parts flour to 2 part seeds.

- Let your water get to blood temperature: The water should not be too hot, about 40C is perfect

- Let the mixture rise for 90 minutes in a warm place with a wet tea-towel over it. A warm oven or by a radiator or in the sun is a perfect place for the mixture to rise.

With all of the above as a background lets see how we can make this delicious bread: