SoDa Row Soda Brea

More often than not, I choose these intense bread recipes that require days of work to get that perfect crumb (I’m talking about that notorious Tartine Country Loaf), but sometimes I just want something warm, easy, and quick that tastes delicious with some salty Irish butter on it. This is where soda bread comes in. 

The traditional Irish soda bread came about in the 1830’s or so when baking soda was first introduced. This must have felt like a pretty big deal, because the baking soda would create yummy, fluffy bread without having to wait for yeast or without having to knead dough for ages. Let’s hear it for science!

Traditionally, like a lot of other bread recipes, there aren’t that many ingredients in soda bread, just flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. Soda bread purists will tell you that it’s not soda bread if you add other ingredients to it, but I’m clearly no purist. What’s the fun of baking things if you can’t experiment with them, right? I’ve read that a lot of people add currants or caraway seeds to their soda bread, which sounds quite nice, but since you can see that I love science and experimenting, I’m going to do something different. I’m going to make what I’m calling (drumroll, please) SoDa Row Soda Bread. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

4 Cups of All Purpose Flour

4 Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar

1 ½ Teaspoons Salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 ¾ Cup Buttermilk (make sure it’s cold)

1 Egg

1 Teaspoon Orange Zest (if you don’t have a navel orange, you could substitute with a mandarin orange or even use dried orange peel)

1 Cup Dried Cherries + A little flour to follow that Mary Berry rule (more below on this)

A handful or so of peeled pistachio nuts (chop them roughly)

Honestly, you don’t have to use cherries or pistachios, that’s just what I like. You can add all kinds of stuff to soda bread: seeds, nuts, herbs, garlic, cheese, chocolate chips, lemon zest, pepper, raisins, cranberries—the list is pretty endless. I’ve even heard of someone putting sauerkraut in it once. All I’d recommend is that you use dry-ish ingredients over wet-ish ones. Soda bread dough is already pretty wet; there’s no need to make it any wetter. Otherwise, it won’t bake properly. 

Here’s how to make it:

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Step 2: Zest your orange. I don’t have a proper zester, so I just pulled out my trusty box grater. It worked just fine. One orange provided more than enough zest, plus it made my hands smell quite nice.

Step 3: Add your flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda into the bowl of your stand mixer or a mixing bowl. You can use beaters, a whisk, or even your fingers.

Step 4: Cut your cold butter into little pieces so it’s easier to combine with the dry ingredients. Then add your butter and mix until it starts looking crumbly. I recommend doing this at a slower speed. You can also incorporate the butter using your hands. It just takes a little while.

Step 5: Shake up your buttermilk and measure it into a liquid measuring cup that’s at least two cups.

Step 6: Add an egg to your buttermilk and beat it lightly. Next, add your orange zest to the buttermilk and egg mixture.

Step 7: Slowly incorporate your buttermilk, egg, and orange zest mixture into your dry ingredients. Once it starts looking mixed, turn off your mixer and let it stand for a few minutes while you get your cherries and pistachios ready.

Step 8: Get a few handfuls of shelled pistachios and give them a nice, rough chop. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to prepare your cherries. 

Remember when I was name dropping Mary Berry, you know, the OG judge from the Great British Bake Off? There’s an episode in which the contestants on the show are challenged to make her Cherry Cake recipe. Many of them fail, because their cherries sink to the bottom of the cake. Little did they know that if you cover your cherries with a little flour, they’ll bake throughout your cake. I digress. Take about a Tablespoon of flour and cover your cherries and pistachios with it before mixing it in with the rest of your dough. This works well with other ingredients, too, like seeds, other types of nuts, other fruits, chocolate chips, etc.

Step 9: Add your cherries and pistachios to the dough, mixing at a slow speed.

Step 10: While your final ingredients are mixing in, sprinkle some flour on a work surface, then dump out your dough on the flour. It will feel cold, wet, and a bit sticky. Knead it a few times and shape it into a nice round ball.

Step 11: Place your dough on a parchment lined baking tray. Then, using a serrated bread knife, cut a cross shape into it. Some say this is to get the devil out of your bread. I’m not entirely sure how the devil gets into bread, but dough needs a place to grow when it’s in the oven, so I say just go along with it.

Step 12: Bake your bread for about 50 minutes. If it makes a hollow noise when you tap it, it’s baked. If it doesn’t, bake it for a little longer. Let it cool, then cut it, and enjoy!

As someone who bakes bread a lot, I have to say, this was super easy. It turned out really good, too! It makes the perfect side to soup and a great breakfast. I hope you enjoy baking this soda bread as much as I did. If you’re a DAYBAKE member and try the recipe with ingredients besides cherries or pistachios, share it in our Facebook group. I’d love to hear what you added and how it went.