Enter, Auntie Pat

I often wonder where I got my enthusiasm and affection for cooking.  Some of it is down to my stubborn reluctance to eat pot noodles every day at university, some of it was due to my love of extremes of flavour (maybe why I love Haribo fangtastics so much), but some of it definitely stems from my Auntie Pat.

I can distinctly remember, as a child, going down to my Aunt's house in deepest, darkest Surrey and being hit by the beguiling smells of unfamiliar ingredients - garlic being one of her favourites.  

I discussed the concept of a guest blogger with my aunt.  I thought it was a great idea, and hence, here is her first (and hopefully not last) contribution.  This one is for Soda Bread, and I for sure will be giving it a whirl.

Without any further ado, I hand over to Auntie Pat:

Soda Bread

 

In these times of ‘belt tightening’ and with the average cost of a shop bought ‘pappy’ sliced loaf being over a pound these days, this little recipe is a winner.  It looks and tastes like one of those ‘designer’ breads you pick up at the “oh so expensive” Surrey Farmer’s markets and simply costs peanuts.  Its best eaten on the day of baking but still good after 24 hours and you can even toast it when it is 2 days old.  It freezes well and is very quick to make.

Note:  Do not be put off if your dough is sticky – it should be very sticky and you will need to rub your hands in flour to rid them of the goo!

Another point – as long as you stick to the weights and measures you can actually use a mixture of flours.  Oh, also don’t get hung up over the exact quantity of the lemon juice – I use all the juice from a medium sized lemon and some ‘purists’ insist on just 2 tbs of lemon juice to 320ml of milk – bring on the lemon I say!

Ingredients

• 450g/1lb of wholemeal flour or a mixture of wholemeal and white (plain).  Actually, I use seeded wholemeal 12oz and plain white 4oz (seeded wholemeal from that famous ‘partnership’ shop!!
• 1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda – again I go heaped for a bit more air
• 1 rounded tsp of salt – I grind up finely coarse sea salt.
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 320ml semi skimmed milk
• Juice of small/medium lemon
• A Handful of mixed seeds (optional)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200c – depending on the accuracy of your oven you may wish to drop that down to say, 190.
• Sift flour and add back into bowl the seeds etc. At this point you can also sift the bicarb and salt into the same bowl.
• Rub in the butter – this won’t take long as there is heaps more flour than butter – don’t worry, it will work out!
• Mix the milk and lemon use together and stir – it will now thicken.
• Add the milk mixture to the flour etc and stir using a flippy floppy spatula to make a sticky wet dough.
• Plop the mixture onto a floured baking sheet, (I actually use non stick silicone paper) shape into a large bun shape. Score a deep cross into the top. At this point, if you haven’t used a seeded flour, sprinkle some seeds onto the top.
• Bake for approx. 40 mins and then turn over to bake the underside for approx. 10 mins.
• The loaf should sound hollow (like a usual yeast loaf).
• Remove from try and cool on a rack.

IMPORTANT

Make sure you do cool on a rack as the condensation from the cooling loaf can evaporate – you don’t want a soggy bottom do you?!

Great with sweet and savoury, very moreish!