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| OK, a star instead of a cross - just for fun! |
During the evening I enthused
about my latest favourite bread – Italian soda bread, which I had made over the
weekend whilst staying with my daughter. I made it on the Sunday evening, and,
since I was fasting after dinner, I was unable to taste it until Tuesday
lunchtime. Made with simple ingredients – Sainsbury’s basic self-raising flour
and Lidl’s EVOO, it was full of flavour.
On my return home tonight I
thought I deserved a drink, so I poured half a pint of beer and the soda bread
was still on my mind. I knew I could knock one up very quickly, so that’s what
I did. I thought that if the white flour version was tasty, a soda bread made
with wholemeal flour should be even tastier. Accordingly, I took out a bag of
‘Park Mill, Bateman’s Strong, Stoneground wholemeal flour’ I'd acquired, and made it with
that + plus 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
It was in the oven within 5
minutes and took 20 minutes to bake. The result was a loaf weighing about 350g
and would have cost around 28p if I’d have used own-brand wholemeal bread flour
at £1.50/1.5kg or 34p if I’d used my usual bread flour, Doves Organic
wholemeal. Whatever, this bread is cheap!
So what about the flavour? Well,
I was expecting it to be much more flavoursome than the loaf made with white
self-raising flour, and maybe it was. But, since I’d rather eat wholemeal for
health reasons, this was well worth doing.
Here’s the recipe:
200g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
125g (or ml, they’re both the
same) cold water
25g extra virgin olive oil.
Mix together into a soft squishy
dough, knead (flatten and fold) several times, then flatten out into a circle
about 2.5cm thick. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and cut
a cross into the dough almost all the way through. Soda bread is a bit denser
than yeast-risen dough and this allows the heat to get to the middle of the
loaf easier.
Bake at 220C for 15-20 minutes. Look
for a good colour underneath. It’s done when a skewer passed through the
thickest part of the loaf comes out clean – or, when it breaks apart cleanly.
Wrap in a tea-towel until it cools, to give you a softer crust.
Oh, what about the chilli, I hear you ask! Well, I had a sixth of the loaf with a couple of dessertspoons of chilli non carne leftover from dinner - along with half a pint of stout and about an inch of wine. And very nice it was too.
I no longer feel guilty about eating at night - since I no longer have breakfast, this evens itself out! :)
Update, 4 days later:
I ate the last of this loaf this lunchtime - at four days old it was still OK. Probably best to eat it by the third day, but if it goes over into a fourth day, it still won't be stale!
Oh, what about the chilli, I hear you ask! Well, I had a sixth of the loaf with a couple of dessertspoons of chilli non carne leftover from dinner - along with half a pint of stout and about an inch of wine. And very nice it was too.
I no longer feel guilty about eating at night - since I no longer have breakfast, this evens itself out! :)
Update, 4 days later:
I ate the last of this loaf this lunchtime - at four days old it was still OK. Probably best to eat it by the third day, but if it goes over into a fourth day, it still won't be stale!
