White Soda Bread

• 450g (1lb, 3 ½ cups) plain flour
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate or bread soda
• 300-600ml ½ to 1 pint, 2 ½ cups) buttermilk or sour milk

Sieve the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the milk in gradually, mixing the flour from the sides. Make sure the mixture isn’t too dry. Turn it out on a floured board and knead lightly. Pat the dough into a flat cake about 5cm (2in) high and cut a cross on it. Brush with the milk and bake in the hot oven – 230 degrees Celsius or 450 Fahrenheit, for 30-45 minutes.

If you have doubts about the ‘doneness’, tap the bottom of the cake. If it sounds hollow, it is cooked.

If you use too much soda, the bread will taste of it and have a yellowish appearance; if you use too little, it will not rise properly. You can replace buttermilk with yoghurt or use fresh milk and replace the bicarbonate soda with baking powder.

If you add sultanas to the dough, you will achieve what is in Ireland known as a Spotted Dog.

This recipe is from The Ballymaloe Cookbook by Myrtle Allen, first published in 1977