Irish Whole Wheat Soda Bread

An Irish must-have every March 17th for St. Patrick’s Day!

Step: 1

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet or an 8- or 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray.

Step: 2

Sift whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together until well combined. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough that’s firm enough to hold its shape.

Step: 3

Knead on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and velvety, 2 to 3 minutes. It will seem very crumbly for a while until everything gets incorporated.

Step: 4

Form into a round loaf and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Cut a cross on the top of the loaf with a very sharp, floured knife. (The cross is a characteristic of soda bread.)

Step: 5

Bake in the preheated oven until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when you tap on it, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Per Serving: 182 calories; protein 7.4g; carbohydrates 37.5g; fat 1.1g; cholesterol 1.5mg; sodium 900.7mg.

The quality of the flour can make a real difference to your bread. Different makers do vary. Extra-strong or Canadian flours, which are bet higher in gluten, may give you a best rise than standard dough flours – especially if you’re make wholemeal dough , which doesn’t always getting bigger as well as white bread.

To make this in a breadmaker , add all the menus to your breadmaker and follow the makers instructions.

A bread first rising can be done in the fridge 24 hours . This slows down the time it takes to rise to double its size, giving it a deeper flavour. It’s also a great limit , as you can work it night before , then clear it off the next day.