No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)
I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...
I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

Friday 25 August 2017

SIMPLE SODA BREAD - IN THE FRYING PAN (VEGAN)

Plain soda bread

Ingredients:
1 mug or 200g self raising flour (Or: wholemeal flour and 2tsps baking powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3rd mug or 125ml water

Method:
1. Put the frying pan on a low heat. Using a non-stick pan, you don't need any oil - but if you feel it may stick in your pan, add the bare minimum.

2. Place the flour (with baking powder if using) and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the water and begin mixing with a table knife or similar.

3.  This is known as a quick bread, so, working quickly, mix together into a soft dough, stirring and cutting through the dough as it forms, adding more flour or water as needed. Turn it out onto a floured worktop, firmly mould it into a round flat loaf, about 1cm thick and place it into the frying pan.  (With practice you can get the mixing and shaping done in less than two minutes.) Increase the heat to medium.

4. Put a kitchen timer on for 5 minutes, then check the colour underneath the bread - you're looking for a good, even colour. Turn the bread over and cook the other side. Once again, don't forget the timer.

5. When you're happy with it, put it to cool on a wire rack and – for a softer crust – wrap the bread in a tea cloth.

Fruit soda bread:
At step two, instead of the salt, add 1 dessertspoon of sugar, half a mug (100g) of dried fruit and a teaspoon of mixed spice. Then proceed as above.

Curried soda bread
At step two, along with the salt, add a teaspoon of curry powder.

Notes:
Here's how I made this frying pan bread in only 13 minutes!

And, my new record, bread made in a sandwich toaster in only 8 minutes!

Here's the recipe for this bread baked in an oven.