Soda Bread

As mentioned in my other post, I was watching River Cottage reruns, and caught the episode all about bread. Hugh made a fantastic looking loaf of soda bread, that took all of about 5 minutes to make! My kind of baking. As there is no yeast, there is no prooving time either. You can literally knock this up in mere minutes. It was divine, just out of the oven with butter & jam on.

500g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp fine salt
400ml buttermilk (or natural plain yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Make a well in the middle and add the buttermilk. Combine all together until you get a stickyish dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently for just a few minutes. Place on a floured baking tray and get into the oven as quick as possible. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, it will sound hollow when you tap the bottom when it is done. Allow to cool, then serve up while warm.