Soda Bread

On Australia Day I decided to whip up some Soda Bread which is not very Australian, as it's an Irish bread however like our Pizza we had instead of lamb there was a good reason for it.  Soda Bread does not need time to "prove" so we could just mix it up, pop it in the oven and 30 minutes later it was done.  I actually cooked ours for another 10 minutes so 40 minutes in total but just the same it was something that could be done half an hour before my family arrived.

All you need is wholemeal flour, spelt flour, baking soda, buttermilk and salt and that's it.  I also mixed up the herb butter which is included in the recipe and I grabbed some home grown parsley and spring onions from the garden and mixed it in with the butter.  I would have to say that the herb butter melted on this bread was amazing and everyone loved it.  The bread is what we would call probably an Aussie Damper although slightly different recipe.  If you are making it make sure you make the herb butter mix to go with it because it made this delicious.  So simple and so tasty and a great starter when family and friends come round.  It would also be good to have with some homemade soup.

Gather the ingredients together.

Mix it together and let me warn you it is a very sticky wet dough so you need flour on the bench and a bit more when you try and make it into a ball.

Dough ready for the next stage.

James was brushing on the buttermilk to the dough and Sienna in her Australia Day Umbrella hat was watching on.

Cut some slits into the top of the bread before placing it in the preheated oven.

While it's cooking mix your butter and herbs together and wait until it comes out of the oven looking like this.