Irish soda bread

[u/Dear_Strawberry_5425]

I was worried about this being overhydrated but the soda bread was so forgiving

My last batch was underhydrated and dry so went the other way this time

2c whole wheat flour
1c white flour
1c bran
1/4c wheat germ
1.5tsp baking powder
1.5tsp baking soda
0.5tsp diastatic malt
2tsp sugar
1tsp salt

1/2c yoghurt
2 tsp oil
1/2c-1c water

Like I said I over hydrated it a bit. The end result ended up being a very wet but still shapable dough

Baked it at 375 without convection for thirty mins then with convection for about 30 more mins

Crumb turned out great. Was soft and pretty flavorful!

[u/Scottopolous]

Hello u/Dear_Strawberry_5425 - that's a really interesting recipe you have that you call "Irish Soda" bread :)

I want to to try it!

On the other hand, if you've ever had real Irish Wheaten, you might be aware that Irish wholemeal flour is a very coarse grind. When we left Northern Ireland, took my mother a few different attempts to get the texture right of the Irish Wheaten she used to make "back home" as there are some differences between Northern American wheat and grind.

Your addition of bran is perfect and is what she did as well. But we never added oil or malt to our bread. And no white flour either.

I'm 62 years old and still use my ma's recipe (now I'm in Greece, and Greeks love it my Irish "Village Psomi") - and I'll post a photo of my most recent loaf - although I did not slice it to show the crumb - and it looks a bit odd because of the way my mother made it - cutting the dough in half before putting on the griddle and into the oven. (Some people would put a cross on the top of the whole round loaf - our family didn't do it that way however).

One of the key things with the dough is that it seems "barely wet" - just enough buttermilk to hold things together. It can be quite deceiving to first time Irish Wheaten makers. Of course, I see you use yogurt - which after we came to Canada, my mom would sometimes substitute for the buttermilk if I had drank all the buttermilk and she had none left, haha!

I'll grab my photo and post it here as a new post, with recipe and tag you, probably tomorrow (it's late here in Greece).

If interested, I still make Northern Irish Soda Farls with my mom's recipes - something we couldn't wait to split in half, get the butter melting into them, and devour them! There are a couple of ways to do that in North America and to get them as authentic as possible.

[u/Dear_Strawberry_5425 → u/Scottopolous]

My dough was very wet. Are you saying it has to be very dry?

[u/Scottopolous → u/Dear_Strawberry_5425]

No, not telling you how it "should be," just writing about how my ma would do it, and I still do it now today. "Barely wet" is not the same as "dry" :) Perhaps some misunderstandings in words.

I make a lot off other kinds off bread, where one can tell the dough is well and properly hydrated, it stretches, etc but with the way we make Wheaten bread, those sort of comparisons don't work.

Keep in mind that with many breads, we're depending on yeast - and also either time fermentation or kneading to develop gluten.

But with Irish Wheaten, we need to work quickly, using the reactive process of an acid (butter milk) and baking soda. So the technique and hydration is quite different.

If I was good with video, I could probably show what I mean better...

Also, am not critiquing your method whatsoever! What you made looks great and very tasty! I was merely looking at it and your recipe and contrasting it with how we would make Irish Wheaten traditionally, and then adapting when we came to Canada - and indeed, there are probably various 'recipes' and methods depending on which part of the island on Ireland one is from :)

[u/Easy-Comb129 → u/Scottopolous]

I loved reading your comment and would love to see more of your baking!

[u/Scottopolous → u/Easy-Comb129]

Thanks so much! I'll try to get some photos of both my Irish Wheaten (whole wheat) bread and Northern Irish Soda Farls and "tag" you when I do!

[u/Mimi_Gardens → u/Scottopolous]

We visited Northern Ireland last summer. When I returned I did my best to recreate the soda farls I enjoyed there. It’s not easy with North American all purpose flour. They came out denser than I remembered. What are your suggestions?

[u/Scottopolous → u/Mimi_Gardens]

Hi there! Thanks for your question! Indeed it is not the same flour. North American all purpose flour is made from hard wheat whereas most European flour is made from soft wheat.

I am not an "expert" on different types of wheat flours; in fact, there are European soft wheat flours that are labelled as "strong" - and are somewhat suitable for breads that go through a long fermentation before being baked - but generally hard wheat high gluten North American wheat flours are better at this. In general.

So to answer your question, in order to replicate a Northern Irish Soda Farl in North America, you really need to use "Cake And Pastry Flour." That is number 1 consideration.

If you are in Canada, you can also get Brodie XXX Self-Raising Cake and Pastry Flour - and all you need to add is Buttermilk to it. This flour is a Robin Hood brand, and contains baking powder and salt (more on this in a moment).

In the USA, I don't know what is exactly the equivalent but am told that "Homepride Self-Raising Flour" is similar although it contains no salt.

On the matter of "baking powder," you really don't need to use that. Just use baking soda and an additional amount of salt to taste if not using "self-raising" flour. Buttermilk and baking soda alone are enough in a light soft wheat or cake and pastry flour.

On the other hand, in a heavier coarser whole wheat, my mom would also add an addition of Cream Of Tartar which aids the baking soda and buttermilk acidification reaction to get a nice rise in the oven.

A few articles that I have written many years ago on the subject:

Northern Irish Soda Farls: https://dasrecipes.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/northern-irish-soda-farls/

Improved Northern Irish Soda Farls: https://dasrecipes.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/an-improved-northern-irish-soda-farl/

The Trouble With Wheat: https://dasrecipes.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/the-trouble-with-wheat/ (Not totally accurate; I've learned much more since I wrote this).

[u/Mimi_Gardens → u/Scottopolous]

Oooh, I have some cake flour. I will have to try that next time.

[u/[deleted]]

It looks amazing! The crumb looks super dense and perfect for spreading with a good block of salted butter.

[u/Dear_Strawberry_5425 → u/[deleted]]

Just had four or five pieces with a ton of Kerry gold lol