food : soda bread

I had made soda bread before, a long time ago (25 years or so). My wife has been wanting us to make more bread and I remembered it as a fairly simple to make option that I knew we had the ingredient for. We made this and were very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it. It has a hard crust that tastes great and a nice soft interior. I particularly loved it with vegan butter and vegemite.

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Whisk together apple cider vinegar and 1.75 C + 2 Tbsp non-dairy milk and set aside for ~10 minutes
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients
4. Stir together using hands or spatula until just mixed
5. Knead gently for, at most, a minute or two: until you can form a ball from the mixture (add extra flour if need be), expect it to be sticky
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment paper
7. Turn the dough onto the pachment paper and press down into a disc no more than 1.5 inches thick
8. Cut a 0.5 inch deep cross on top of the disc and very lightly sprinkle with flour
9. Bake at 430°F on the middle rack for 20–30 minutes or until the outside is crusty and starting to get a light golden brown color, rotate the pan halfway through cooking
10. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 1 hour before slicing
11. Store for 3–4 days at room temperature, wrapped in a towel

Notes

• It definitely tastes best an hour after cooking it: sooooo good
• I like it with butter and vegemite, my daughter likes butter and jam, we eat it with meals or just as a nice snack. For how easy it is to make it really is just a very pleasant rustic bread
• Many recipes online for this type of bread add seeds, nuts, or dried fruit to the dough. We have not tried this (I don't like fruit in my bread), but it might be good