This week I had Wednesday off so what better way to spend a day off when it’s snowing and cold outside than to whack the oven on and get down to some baking. If I’m truthfully honest I quite fancied a lie in but when you want one it doesn’t happen so I woke up the same time I would for work and thought I might as well bake some bread.

The recipe is taken from Paul Hollywood’s ‘How to Bake’ a book I bought for my boyfriend for Christmas but took back as I liked it to much!

It’s ridiculously easy and only takes ten minutes to prepare. As I prefer wholemeal bread I tailored the recipe to add wholemeal flour but if you prefer white soda bread just leave the wholemeal out and use 500g plain flour.

Ingredients

• 300g plain flour
• 200g wholemeal flour
• ½ tsp salt
• one heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 290ml buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.
2. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir (I use the end of my wooden spoon to stir all the ingredients together)
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with the end of the spoon to form a soft dough. (Depending upon the absorbency of the flour, you may need to add a little milk if the dough seems too stiff but it should not be too wet or sticky.)
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.
5. Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet.
6. Cut a cross on the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
7. Wrap in tea towl straight soon after taking it out of the oven to keep it fresh.

  

Absolutely lovely with soup, as a sandwich or simply with some butter and a cup of tea. It’s a recipe you can do so frequently. I’d recommend eating it within two days as that’s when it’s lovely and fresh.