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Irish soda bread is so easy to make with no kneading or proving, perfect for getting children involved in the kitchen and it tastes delicious dipped in soup or smothered in butter and jam.

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Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know that over the summer I spent a bit of time in the kitchen baking with the boys. I didn’t actually do as much as I would have liked as the weather was so lovely it seemed a shame not to be outside enjoying the sunshine (especially after last summer which, as I remember, was pretty rubbish). The fact that we were so busy having fun is also the reason it’s taken me such a long time to get this written up – sorry. We’ve always enjoyed baking together but have usually stuck to sweet treats (cupcakes, cookies and even a chocolate soda bread) so I wanted to get them into more savoury baking.

Soda bread is absolutely perfect for getting children involved in the kitchen as it’s basically a case of chucking all of the ingredients into a bowl, mixing them up and popping it into the oven. Their involvement can be adjusted according to how old they are and what they like doing. I wrote the ingredients and method out so Daniel could read out what we needed to do and he really enjoyed helping me weigh out the ingredients, telling me when we’d reached the right amount. Josh on the other hand seemed more keen on just making a bit of a mess! 🙂

Josh also had a bit of a Bake Off moment, keeping an eye on everything cooking in the oven.

We made this loaf with spelt flour as that’s what I had in the cupboard and I love its slightly nutty flavour, but this soda bread recipe also works brilliantly with regular plain or wholemeal flour (or a mix of the two if you prefer).

Easy Soda Bread

Active Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

* 10 minutes with the children, it’s even quicker if you’re doing it alone!

Makes 2 small loaves (can also make 1 large loaf by adding c. 10 minutes to the cooking time)

Ingredients

• 400g Flour (Plain, Wholemeal or Spelt)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 300ml buttermilk (if you can only get the 284ml carton then just top up the difference with a little milk)
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan.
2. Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking parchment or non-stick baking sheet.
3. Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl (400g flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp salt) and give them a quick stir so they’re all mixed up.
4. Add in the buttermilk (300ml) and mix thoroughly until you have a ball of dough. You can use a spoon but I prefer to use my hands as its easier to ensure that everything is fully combined. If there are any dry bits at the bottom that won’t combine add a little extra buttermilk if you have it or if you don’t a little milk until it is all combined.
5. Form the dough into two balls and place them onto the baking tray. Using a sharp knife cut a cross shape in the top, cutting through to about halfway down the loaf.
6. Bake the loaves in the oven for 25 minutes, remove them from the oven, loosely cover them with foil and then return them to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
7. Check the loaves are cooked by tapping them on the bottom. They should sound hollow. If they don’t then pop them back in (still covered in foil) for another few minutes.
8. Once cooked, move to a rack to cool.

Proudly showing of his finished loaf

This is the estimated nutritional information per slice (assumes 8 slices per loaf). Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you want to learn more about how this is calculated.

Free From/Suitable For…

• Suitable for Vegetarians
• Corn-Free
• Egg-Free
• Nut-Free
• Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

I’m sharing this recipe with the following blog challenge… CookBlogShare with Sneaky Veg.