A loaf of bread

It occurred to me that although this blog is all about baking, (and yes, mainly about cake), I have never written about baking bread. Over the years I’ve made a lot of bread. It seems to be something that goes in phases for me; I get very enthusiastic and then go off it again until the next time. I’ve made bread in a breadmaker, bread by hand, light loaves and heavy (sometimes by design!) loaves, proper sourdough loaves and general everyday loaves.

In the last month or so I have made a few loaves. I found my copy of Dough by Richard Bertinet and made a couple of different loaves from there. First I made a caraway rye loaf, and then a classic white pain de mie or everyday loaf. Bread making is honestly nowhere near as difficult or complicated as it is sometimes made out to be. And it is very satisfying too.

This week I made an easy loaf – non yeasted soda bread. This was inspired by two things/ people: first, my son Tom who makes pretty much all his own bread. He had a problem in the first lockdown when there was a major shortage of yeast, and then flour. He turned to making soda bread, with any flour he could get. Second, the butcher near us sells proper Irish coarse wholemeal flour for the authentic flavour. I learned today that soft wheat (as opposed to the hard stuff that is used for yeasted breads) is the only kind that really grows in Ireland and that is one reason why soda bread is a big thing there.

There are lots of recipes for soda bread but I like this one from Delia Smith, which has just five ingredients: flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, buttermilk and water. It takes literally minutes to mix, and is easy to bake. You don’t even need a loaf tin, because it’s shaped by hand into a round. Straight out of the oven it has a great crust, which softens a little overnight. Soda bread is delicious as it is, or buttered. It is also really good toasted with marmalade. Talking of marmalade – tis the season! Hurray! I have some oranges boiling away right now..