Hugh's Soda Bread

Half the world (well, NZ) and his wife must have been watching Hugh F-W this week as pretty much everyone I know is making soda bread! 

'Hugh's Everyday' is on tv just now and we can't miss an episode. It's a totally brilliant series.

I made loads of bread last year but as summer rolled in I kind of stopped but I wanted to get back into it again so this was as good a place to start as any.

Hugh's recipe is

Ingredients

* 500g plain flour  (I didn't use any special flour - just the basic "pams" plain flour.)

* 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

* 1 tsp fine sea salt

* Approx. 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt

* A little milk, if necessary

I went the buttermilk route. The carton we can get at the supermarket is 600ml so I just upped everything else a wee bit.

Here's how Hugh makes it, and I copied it exactly.

1. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form a soft dough, just this side of sticky.

2. Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer – you need to get it into the oven while the bicarb is still doing its stuff. You're not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you’d get with a yeast-based bread.

3. Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

4. Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. Soda bread is best eaten while still warm, spread with salty butter and/or a dollop of your favourite jam. But if you have some left over the next day, it makes great toast.

This is the first time I've made soda bread and I noticed that the dough was super sticky! It stuck to the wooden bench, my hands, the spoon, pretty much everything it came into contact with. I had a mini strop and then added flour all over the place!

  It smells amazing while cooking. 

This is so super yummy I can't tell you!!

We're having home made jerusalem artichoke soup tonight for dinner with soda bread and lashings of butter.