Lesson 7: Soda Bread

I consider soda bread to be a sort of transition between quick breads and yeast breads. Soda bread acts more like yeast bread than any of the other breads we've encountered. It's kneaded and shaped by hand like a yeast loaf, and its taste is more like that of yeast bread than quick bread.

A Matter of Tradition

A really funny Web site called the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread tells us that Irish Soda Bread originated in the 1850s when baking soda was first introduced to the country. The traditional recipe is very basic, including only flour, baking soda, sour milk or buttermilk, salt and maybe butter. This gentleman tells us this is the way it should be, or at least if we change the recipe, we shouldn't call it traditional.

Fine, we won't call it traditional. But there are lots of places soda bread can go without crossing over into the crazy dark side of cake or yeast bread that some recipes try to take you to. But the basic rule is: If you see a recipe for soda bread with yeast in it, don't try it. This is something else entirely.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about some acceptable (to me, anyway) additions to soda bread. I think it's OK to add a little sugar or honey to make the bread a little sweeter and more special, despite the bookguy’s protestations. In fact, a much more comprehensive site called Peter's Mum's Soda Bread Wisdom (sounds pretty authentic to me) includes sugar in his recipe. He also explains why this is the predominant everyday bread eaten with the main meal in Ireland. After you make it, it'll likely become pretty popular at your house, too. Especially if you open yourself up to variations like those in "The Best Quick Breads."

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