Vegan Soda Bread

-

Irish Soda Bread on a wooden chopping board 

Irish Soda Bread on a wooden chopping board

Written by McDonald, T.  |  Updated 21st of August 2023.

Why not try this traditional Irish bread for St Patrick's Day? Soda bread gets its name from the bicarbonate of soda, which is used instead of yeast. This bread is great on its own, with some jam or just with some butter. St Patrick's Day is on the 17th of March this year (2022). 

Notes

  • It is possible to use water with just a little vegan milk: 300ml of water and 50ml of vegan milk.  You can also use 200ml of vegan milk with 150ml of water.  The idea of the vegan buttermilk is to create something acid to react with the baking soda.  Furthermore, it is possible to use just water, but you will still need the vinegar.

  • Yes, you can add seeds and some nuts or fruit such as sultanas if you want. I often use mixed seeds or sunflower and hemp seeds.

  • Use a good quality baking try because a cheap one will likely buckle in the oven, changing the shape of the bread.

  • The bread is at 70% hydration

500g of flour x 0.70 = 350ml

Preparation time of vegan buttermilk: 30 minutes at least

Preparation time:  10 – 15 minutes

Cook time: 40 – 45 minutes  

Total time: 1:30 hour

 6 – 8 servings. 


Ingredients

  • 350ml vegan milk
  • 2 tbsp white vinegar
  • 250g plain white flour
  • 250g strong wholemeal bread flour
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Apparatus 

  • Baking try
  • Wooden spoon
  • Dough scraper
  • Mixing bowl
  • Scales
  • Measuring jug
  • Measuring spoons

 

Method

  1. Prepare the buttermilk.  Pour the vegan milk into a jug and stir in the vinegar.  Cover and leave for 30 minutes.  Don't miss this step out because the bicarbonate of soda requires the acidity to react with so the bread will rise.

  2. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

  3. Put the white and wholemeal flours, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and stir with a whisk. (If you are adding seeds, this is the time to do it.  Mix them in.)

  4. Pour the prepared buttermilk into the bowl and stir to make a slightly sticky dough.

  5. Tip the dough onto a board and shape or straight onto a greased baking tray and sprinkle a little flour on top and use your hands to mould it into a ball-ish shape.

  6. Bake for 40–45 minutes at 200C.

  7. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Irish vegan Soda Bread dough dusted in flour on a wooden chopping board
Dough.

Irish vegan Soda Bread dough shaped ballish and on a wooden chopping board
Shape so it looks ball-ish.

Irish vegan Soda Bread dough with a cross cut in on a metel baking sheet
Cut a cross into the top to make it more traditional.

Results

The aroma coming from the oven is amazing!  It took a good hour before it cooled enough to slice, but when it did cool, it sliced beautifully and tasted fantastic!  The bread has a great texture and is chewy.  I had some with butter and jam and had some on its own.  It kept well wrapped in a tea-towel in the fridge for a few days. 

Irish vegan Soda Bread on a wire cooling rack
Fresh from the oven.

This one has seeds and berries in

Slices of soda bread

Slice and eat

I hope you decide to give this a try.  If you do, please let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter.  Please like, share with your friends and subscribe.  


Location: United Kingdom

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vegan Stollen

-
Image
Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 11th of December 2023   This is something I have heard of, but never tried before.  Usually, we have traditional Christmas cake in my house, but last year I wanted to try something different and this was it.  Rest assured, I will be having it again this year too! At first, it seems like a lot of effort, but you will soon see that it is straight forward to make and definitely worth it.  However, it will need proofing and the dried fruit will need soaking, which will all take time, so plan ahead.  Notes I used French Brandy Marzipan and so used brandy to flavour the raisins and cranberries. I used almond milk. A good tip is to dust the soaked fruit with a little flour before adding the dough. You have 3 options with the marzipan:  Roll it out  Chop it up Have a thick bar of it running through the centre I soaked the dried fruit in brandy, but you can make it without the alcohol is you wish or use rum instead. I used a silicon baking sheet to save on the
Read more

Rum And Raisin Loaf

-
Image
Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 27th of November 2023   Whatever the occasions, this is a great treat to be had.  The rum soaks into the raisins and results in a perfect infusion of flavours. The rum adds flavour to the raisins while the raisins add sweetness to the run.  This beautiful bread as a great bready texture, yet is fruity and warming to the soul. Although it doesn't need it, you can choose to dust it with icing sugar.
Read more

Vegan Ginger Bread

-
Image
Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 18th of March 2024 You will never believe just how easy this cake bread is. So tasty, so moist and good! The preparation is mega quick because all you have to do is mix it all together and pour the batter in a loaf tin and it is ready to go in the oven. No yeast, so no proofing it is ready so fast and bakes in 45 minutes. The result is a sweet tasting cake that you can cut into slices and eat like bread. Notes Don't beat the batter or it will turn out tough after baking.   If you use Green Ginger Wine, be sure it is vegan.     Ingredients  Dry  300 g of self-raising flour 120 g of dark brown sugar 2 tsp of ground ginger   5 crystallised ginger cut into pieces 30 g of grated fresh ginger 1 tsp of ground cloves 1 tsp of mixed spice 1/4 tsp of salt 1 tsp of baking powder Wet 40 ml of vegetable oil  240 ml of water  150 g (about 4 tbsp) of plan or vanilla vegan yoghurt 50 ml of ginger wine 2 tbsp of dark syrup   Method Add all the dry ingredients to a
Read more