Wholewheat Soda Bread

So here is a formula for 100% wholewheat soda bread adapted from Elizabeth David’s version. A few things to note:

100% wholewheat bread never rises very much. The recipe calls for the use of an inverted tin to cover the loaf during cooking, which she says helps it to rise a little. It also helps in not forming too hard or dry a crust.
Once you take the loaf out of the oven, wrap it in a damp tea-towel until cooled. This also helps to stop the crust from becoming too hard.
This bread is at its best when freshly made and just cooled. It doesn’t keep well, so it’s best to make just what you need in small batches. It really doesn’t take very long to throw together.
It’s recommended to keep the loaf size small for 100% wholewheat bread, as the smaller loaves bake better. The recipe here is for one small loaf – if you want more, double the quantities and make two loaves.

sodabreadforpost

A baking sheet plus a deep cake tin (around 20cm or more in diameter and at least 5cm deep)
to cover the loaf while baking.

Preheat the oven to 220C.
Whisk the salt and bread soda through the flour so that they are well combined.
Add the buttermilk to the flour and mix to a dough. This is easiest done with your hands.
If the dough is still too dry and not fully coming together, add a little warm water.
Shape the dough into a round, about 2cm tall, and make a deep cross-cut in the dough – such that, when baked, the loaf will divide easily into four.
Place on a floured baking sheet and cover the loaf with a deep cake tin.
Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the covering tin and bake for 10-15 minutes more, until the loaf has a browned crust. If you tap the base of the loaf, it should make a hollow sound.
Remove from the oven, wrap the loaf in a damp tea-towel, leave to cool on a wire rack and stick the kettle on for a big mug of tea to go with your bread, butter and jam.

I have used a mixture of soured cream and water instead of the buttermilk with tasty results – about 3-4 tblsps or more of soured cream, made up to the required volume of liquid by adding water. You could use yoghurt in the same way.
If you don’t have buttermilk or any other sour dairy product to hand, you can use a mixture of half and half fresh milk and water, and add 1 tsp of cream of tartar to the flour.
If your loaves are coming out too dry, try rubbing about 20-30g of butter into the flour.
For a lighter loaf, replace a quarter or more of the wholewheat flour with plain white flour.

1 small cake of bread, which you can break into 4 scones. A scone does me very nicely for breakfast. If I eat 2 of them, I feel very full indeed.