Nerdie Foodie: Homemade Soda Bread

Ran out of yeast at home and you can’t find any in the store? No problem! Soda bread is the answer to your carb-loving, lifestyle needs! It doesn’t require any yeast and very little handling to put together. The original recipe is from the BBC Reel’s Soda Bread recipe by editor Melissa Hogenboom, which you can check out here for the video tutorial. After much trial and errors, I’ve adapted it so that it would work for us over here in North America.

Let’s get baking!

What You’ll Need

Equipment	Wet Ingredients	Quantity
1 Medium or Large Mixing Bowl	Milk	400 mls (aka. 1¾ cups)
Measuring Cups: 1 Cup ½ Cup 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) 1 Teaspoon (tsp)	Bottle of Lemon Juice	2 Tbsp
Baking Tray	Dry Ingredients	Quantity
Fork	All-Purpose Flour	3½ Cups + ½ Cup + extra for dusting
Knife	Baking Soda	1 tsp
Board or Plate	Salt	2 tsp

Directions

1. First step is to create the buttermilk so that it has time to curdle. Mix the milk and lemon juice together in the Pyrex Measuring Cup. Set it aside while you put together the dry ingredients. If you need a more in-depth tutorial, check out the previous Nerdie Foodie recipe on how to make buttermilk here!
2. Mixing Bowl: Place 3½ cups of flour, the baking soda, and salt together. Mix well with the fork.

Tip: When scooping dry ingredients with the measuring cup or spoon, level off the top with either the chopstick or the top of the knife (non-sharp side) so that it’s fairly flat before dumping it into the mixing bowl. If you feel confident enough, you can shake the measuring cup until the top is fairly level and flat.

 

3. Keep stirring the dry ingredients as you slowly pour the buttermilk into the mixing bowl.
   

   Photo Credit: Nerdy Curiosities

Tip: Stirring the dry ingredients while pouring the liquid into the bowl helps to mix everything together more cohesively.

 

4. Once the buttermilk and the flour mixture have just completely mixed together (until it’s almost into a ball of dough), add the ½ cup of flour to the mixture. Use your hands to mix and lightly knead the extra flour into the wet and tacky dough until it just comes together into a ball. Dust on more flour if the dough is too wet and tacky.

Tip: Add any small bits of dough back into the ball of dough when you are lightly kneading.

5. Turn on the oven and heat it (aka. preheat) to 425^oF.
6. Dust some flour onto the baking tray.
7. Place the ball of dough onto the baking tray. Use the knife to make a deep score into the top of the dough.
   

   Photo Credit: Nerdy Curiosities

8. When the oven reaches 425^oF, place the baking tray in the middle of the oven.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

 

Tip: Start with 30 minutes of baking time. Only add more baking time if the bread is still raw.

 

10. Check to see if the bread is done baking by tapping the top of the bread with the knife. If it sounds hollow when you tap the bread, it’s baked all the way through. If it doesn’t sound hollow, leave it in the oven to bake for a few more minutes.
11. Once the bread is done baking, pull the baking tray out of the oven to cool.
    

    Photo Credit: Nerdy Curiosities

12. When the loaf is cool enough to handle with your hands, remove it from the baking tray and place it onto the board or plate.
13. Slice and Enjoy!

End Results

This soda bread recipe has been a life changer for us. To not have to rely on yeast to get your daily dose of bread means so much, as it opens up other possibilities to other types of bread. But because there is no yeast in this bread, that means it’s denser, but still with a soft, fluffy texture on the inside. This is one bread recipe you’d want to have on hand when you don’t have all the ingredients for a traditional yeast bread.

‘Til next time,

Stay Nerdalicious!