Soda Bread

One of the things I took for granted before I became coeliac was bread, particularly a simple sandwich made with soft nutty granary or wholemeal flour.

Soda bread was also always a favourite, I loved the fact that this crusty loaf, as a busy mum to boys was quick to make for them to devour. It contains no yeast so no need for lengthy proofing.

In no time at all you had delicious warm crusty bread on the table. To me, it is the perfect loaf to have with a bowl of steaming hot soup.

Like all gluten-free baking it does depend on the flour, I would advise you to use a well recognised-brand. Normally there is no baking powder in Irish soda bread. The leavening is obtained just by using bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk or yoghurt. The lactic acid in the yoghurt reacts with the baking powder to encourage leavening.

Testing the recipe I included baking powder and as you can see below there is a marked difference. The one on the left was doughy with a very tight crumb. The rise of the one on the right

On the left is a loaf made without using baking powder and on the right is a loaf using baking powder.

I have added a combination of oats and oat flour in this recipe because it makes a really soft bread with a nice texture.

From a health stand oats are a great source of fibre, protein and many more nutrients. They provide a slow-release energy. They have a low GI and high in dietary fibre.

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Ingredients

Oat flour

This is not a normal flour most people have in the store cupboard. Like most gluten-free flour there are alternatives you can use. You could use

1. Buckwheat flour
2. Almond flour
3. Finely ground rice flour

Yoghurt

For this recipe choose a thick dairy-free plain yoghurt. This works much better than the thin variety.

The Milk

Oat milk works really well in the recipe (a gluten-free one). Use a sweetened milk not unsweetened

Notes

1. I have only tested this recipe using my flour mix and Eurostar gluten-free plain flour
2. If you do not have to avoid wheat and gluten then just use plain flour and non-gluten-free-oats.
3. If you do not have oat flour, you can blitz them down in a food processor. They do not have to be ultra fine or have the consistency of flour.
4. Make sure you buy gluten-free oat flour.

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Soda Bread

• Preparation Time 15 Minutes
• Baking Time 45-50 Minutes
• Makes 1 loaf

Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and nut free

The air bubbles produced from mixing the yoghurt, milk and lemon juice

Brushed with melted butter and ready for the oven

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and line a baking tin with parchment paper.
2. In a large jug, mix the yoghurt, the juice of half a lemon and milk and set aside.
3. Sift the oat flour, plain flour, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt into a large bowl and then stir through the ground linseeds and oats.
4. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Stir this with a spatula until the dough starts to come together. Using your hands work the dough into a ball until it is smoother. If the dough is too dry then add a little more milk, but only a little at a time, we do not want the dough too wet just sticky
5. Next, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a minute, until it is a fairly smooth ball and then place it onto your baking sheet. Brush over liberally with melted butter and sprinkle with seeds or oats.
6. Deeply score (about 2 inches down) lines onto the top of the dough forming a cross.
7. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, and bake until a lovely golden crust has formed and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.
8. Transfer to a cooling rack, and leave to cool.

This is the hard bit as it smells so delicious and the thought of slathering a thick slice with butter have you salivating.

Previous recipes

• Spicy Roasted Pepper Pasta Sauce
• Lemon & Pistachio Cream Cookies
• Custard Cream Biscuits
• Vegan Tikka Masala
• Vegan Cottage Pie

If you make this, don’t forget to tag me on twitter as @veganalchemist1 or my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegfveganalchemist I love seeing your versions of the recipes. I would love to hear your comments too.