Heat the oven Heat the oven to two hundred and thirty degrees Celsius and lightly dust a baking tray with flour.
02
Mix the dry ingredients In a large bowl, mix the wholemeal flour, plain flour, sieved bread soda and salt together well with your hand, lifting the flour to get air into it.
03
Rub in the butter Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until no lumps of butter remain and it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
04
Add the buttermilk Make a well in the centre, pour in most of the buttermilk, and mix quickly with a spoon or your spread fingers into a soft, sticky dough, adding the rest of the buttermilk only if there are dry patches.
05
Shape the loaf Turn the dough onto a floured surface and shape it gently into a round about four centimetres thick, handling it as little as possible, then lift it onto the tray.
06
Cut the cross With a floured knife, cut a deep cross across the top of the loaf, going about halfway down through the dough.
07
Bake at high heat Put the loaf into the hot oven and bake for fifteen minutes.
08
Lower the heat Turn the oven down to two hundred degrees Celsius and bake for another twenty five minutes.
09
Cool in a tea towel Wrap the hot loaf in a clean tea towel and leave it on a wire rack to cool for at least thirty minutes before slicing.
A dense, nutty wholemeal loaf raised with bread soda and buttermilk instead of yeast, baked fresh in Irish homes. It is eaten thickly sliced with butter at breakfast, or alongside a bowl of soup or stew.
Servings10 servings01234567890123456789 SERVINGS
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servings · 1 to 24
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Method
1
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to two hundred and thirty degrees Celsius and lightly dust a baking tray with flour.
Heat the oven · 15 min
2
Mix the dry ingredients
In a large bowl, mix the wholemeal flour, plain flour, sieved bread soda and salt together well with your hand, lifting the flour to get air into it.
Sieve the bread soda first. A lump of soda left in the dough bakes into a bitter, yellow-green spot.
3
Rub in the butter
Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until no lumps of butter remain and it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
4
Add the buttermilk
Make a well in the centre, pour in most of the buttermilk, and mix quickly with a spoon or your spread fingers into a soft, sticky dough, adding the rest of the buttermilk only if there are dry patches.
If you cannot find buttermilk, stir one tablespoon of lemon juice into 450 millilitres of whole milk and let it stand for ten minutes before using.
5
Shape the loaf
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and shape it gently into a round about four centimetres thick, handling it as little as possible, then lift it onto the tray.
Work fast and do not knead. The soda starts reacting as soon as the buttermilk goes in, and overworking makes a tough, heavy loaf.
6
Cut the cross
With a floured knife, cut a deep cross across the top of the loaf, going about halfway down through the dough.
7
Bake at high heat
Put the loaf into the hot oven and bake for fifteen minutes.
Bake at high heat · 15 min
8
Lower the heat
Turn the oven down to two hundred degrees Celsius and bake for another twenty five minutes.
The bread is done when you turn it over and tap the bottom and it sounds hollow. If it sounds dull, give it five more minutes upside down on the tray.
Lower the heat · 25 min
9
Cool in a tea towel
Wrap the hot loaf in a clean tea towel and leave it on a wire rack to cool for at least thirty minutes before slicing.
The tea towel keeps the crust soft. Leave it unwrapped if you prefer a hard, crunchy crust.