Of frogs and flowers in February...

It's February already, can you believe it?  In the park, the Spring flowers are appearing and in our little garden pond the frogs have made their annual return.  They always turn up almost on the same date every year and I wonder how they do that.  Isn't nature just amazing?

It's still a little chilly outside and whilst my mind is shouting "Spring!", my body still wants warmth and comfort, so I guess it'll be soup for lunch today.  But that probably won't be quite enough, so we will have some bread with it and the following will go amazingly well with the hot soup: soda bread.
  

I love how quickly this can be thrown together and whilst I love sourdough (see my previous post here) and other yeast breads, this little loaf of loveliness is simply ideal when you don't have a lot of time but want to make your own bread.  And if you have a tub of plain yoghurt lurking in the fridge that's approaching its use by date, then these couple of recipes for soda bread should come in handy.  Also very useful: it can easily be frozen in slices to use up another day but it's so tasty, I am not sure there will be any left after a couple of days anyway :-)

Happy Friday!


Soda bread 1
(makes one medium loaf)

Ingredients:
450g plain flour (just white or a mix of white & wholemeal flour)
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300ml natural yoghurt
150ml warm water

1. Preheat oven to 200C (conventional) or 180C (fan oven). 
2. Combine the flour and the bicarb before adding the yoghurt and warm water.
   Mix together well, kneading briefly and then form the dough into a round.
3. Cut a cross on the top, place on a floured tray and bake for 30 minutes, then turn oven down to 180ºC and leave for another 20 minutes. 
4. Tap the bottom of the loaf and if it sounds hollow, the loaf is done.
5. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

OR try the following recipe using  buttermilk instead of yoghurt & water:

Soda Bread 2
(makes one medium loaf)

Ingredients:
150g plain flour
150g wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp salt
250ml buttermilk

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. 
2. Mix the flours, bicarb and salt in a bowl. 
3. Add the buttermilk, then stir to form a dough. Knead briefly then form into a ball. 
4. Put on a floured baking sheet then slash a cross in the top.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes until it sounds hollow when you tap on the bottom.

(as found on the BBC Good Food website)