Soda Bread: heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6

6oz/170g self-raising wholemeal flour.
6oz/170g plain flour.
half a teaspoon of salt.
half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
290 ml/ half a pint of buttermilk.

1. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and mix together.
2. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. Depending on the absorbency of the flour you may have to add a wee bit more ordinary milk, if the dough seems a bit stiff, but it shouldn’t be too wet or sticky.
3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.
4. Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking tray.
5. Cut a cross on the top and bake for 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow.

I really liked the flavour of this bread but I think I need to fine tune the recipe a wee bit for my oven. The next time I’ll try baking it at Gas 5 for a longer time because the centre of my loaf was too doughy and obviously needed a bit more baking. I think my ovens are quite fierce, the thermostats don’t seem to be quite right so I often have to adjust baking times. I’m also going to try baking it in a bread tin as I prefer rectangular bread.

I’ve always loved soda bread, it’s very popular in the west of Scotland but for some reason the bakers in the east of Scotland didn’t sell it when we first moved here. They might sell it now, I gave up looking for it. I’ve been meaning to make it myself for years and only got around to it for the first time last week. I want to make more bread but my previous attempts have been dismal failures – doorstops spring to mind!

So I was interested in what Paul Hollywood was saying about bread making on the Great British Bake Off and I think I’ve been using the wrong sort of yeast. Different yeast has been purchased so I’ll be having another go later in the week. Fingers crossed that the poor birds don’t have to bounce their beaks off another disaster!

Following Paul Hollywood’s video I’m going to try making this bread later in the week.