Hi,
I tried this today.the crust was really tasty bt the bread was dense and the taste was like cooked chapati aata.Still not bad…I had halved the recipe.Can u tell me what could have gone wrong.Should I have used more soda?

Thanks

Hi Vini – I don’t know exactly how it tasted in your case – but the fact is that this Soda Bread does not taste like normal breads. The texture will little dryer than normal loafs and harder. Though it would look like a rock on the surface when you cut into it, the insides should be little moist.Traditional soda bread does not have the usual cake-like” texture that some breads enjoy thanks to some yeast. It is more chewy and has a v mild taste of soda. This recipe is enhanced with prunes hence they would mildly sweet as well. Again it depends on what exactly you used in the bread – like if it was white flour, the type of seasoning etc.

Was yours cooked enough? Or was it cooked too long? I would say the best way to check if it was done would be tap it on the bottom – it will sound hollow when baked to perfection. Hope this helps

Wow,that was a great post.But never ever heard of yeasty soda bread,the link is very interesting.The addition of prunes makes it more welcoming I must add.Also surprised that you posted bread after preserves wheareas I was expecting scones for AWED.Silly me.

Irish soda bread looks perfect! i have never baked one, but would love to add in few raisins too

It thrills me to no end to finally see someoned who gets it. Iam American, with Irish roots, and this IS the real deal! I confess, I dress mine up with raisins and a bit of molasses. Another superstition behind the cross (we Irish are very superstitious) is because it was believed the devil lived in the flour (Yeah, i dont get it either) and the cross let the devil out. So, there ya go!

Devil in the flour? LOL! Really! But I wud love to hear the stories…They are so innovative and inventive. – DK

Great instructions Dhiv. hope I get the courage to bake such a bread one day!

Completely agree with your list of things that have no place in a soda bread recipe, particularly yeast, butter, sugar and eggs!!!

My recipe is similar to yours though I do allow myself one indulgence which is to add some oatmeal. I love the resulting heavy texture.

I’m confused about your distinction between traditional and authentic and I’m not sure I understand when you say some recipes were traditional but not authentic and others authentic but not traditional. Please could you elaborate?

I used the term in an abstract way.
Like say for example : You follow some recipes thanks to the tradition of making it in one particular way for generations. So there may be a possibility that you have had that recipe passed on which has stuff like apples, sugar etc . You call it traditional (and so do many..) but its not authentic to what it originally is.

By Authentic I mean, it is perfect to the tee – you know that THIS bread is indeed Irish soda bread – but such recipes frown upon using any kind of variation which I personally think is little too harsh since – some families in old Ireland did indeed use variations as per the occasion.

Like say during festive times, they added white flour instead of wheat and threw in some caraway seeds- raisins etc to celebrate say a great harvest. So there is some tradition and there is authentic – I know they both should have been the same but for some reason when it comes to this bread it is not..hence I wrote it the way I did

Hope this helped – DK

Good work DK.. Nice research. I’m planning to make soda bread too but with a twist. Will post soon. Have a good weekend.

I’m impressed. Youve really researched your soda bread!

gee thanks girl