Here’s how to prepare soda bread, bread without yeast

An excellent yeast-free bread, perfect for breakfast, soda bread boasts very ancient origins. Let's find out together how to prepare it!

If you've never tried soda bread, you don't know what you're missing. Preparing homemade bread requires time and patience, especially due to leavening times. Soda bread, on the other hand, is a bread with bicarbonate of soda that does not require leavening before being baked.

You're probably wondering what gives bread its characteristic alveolation since it doesn't contain yeast. Soda bread, as the name suggests, is prepared with sodium bicarbonate which is the leavening agent. This, reacting with the buttermilk , the other ingredient in the recipe, allows the bread to rise naturally.

No, buttermilk is very difficult to find in the supermarket. Prepare it at home by combining 200 ml of milk, 200 g of yogurt and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. After a rest of half an hour it will be ready!

How to prepare soda bread with the original recipe

1. Place the two types of flour , the bicarbonate of soda and the salt in a bowl. Then add the buttermilk and start kneading with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be quite soft, but you don't have to worry about it.
2. Flour the work surface well and continue to work your bread, helping yourself with a tarot or with well-floured hands. When it is smooth, transfer it to a 20cm diameter baking tray lined with baking paper.
3. Score the surface with a cross cut which will help the steam escape and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes . Serve the soda bread once it has completely cooled.
4. Over time , many variations of this bread have arisen. Some simply decorate the surface with seeds, while others enrich the dough with raisins, creating a perfect bread for breakfast. Richer versions, however, require the addition of eggs or butter directly in the first mixing phase. In short, free to let your imagination run wild!

Also try our version of gluten-free soda bread , perfect for intolerant people.