Here are some reasons to make this bread:
1) You are smart and talented enough to do it.
Have you ever made soda bread before? A goat could do it. Honestly. And it's so good that you would still want to eat it even if it was decorated in hoof prints. What's it involve? You mix flour, water, salt and baking powder together in a ball, throw it in the oven and bake it until it's bread. That's right. It's that easy, but miraculously doesn't turn into inedible paste. This bread will form a more satisfying loaf than cornbread and has a far less finicky dough than biscuits or scones and this makes it a trooper and a saint amongst quick breads.
2) This is perhaps the ultimate variation of the humble soda bread.
You don't have to add anything to the original recipe. It's good as it is. But the dough can be made with a multitude of different flours and its solid crumb could host any number of flavours. This is a bread that will warmly wrap new ideas into its doughy folds and incorporate them thoroughly. I started out using a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for a honey and walnut soda bread loaf. It was tasty, but quite sweet and this made it an awkward partner for dinners. So I took some ideas from that recipe (mainly the ground walnuts) and perused a number of others and came up with a recipe that contained yogurt for a moist texture (and because it apparently activates the baking soda futher - more traditionally, one could use a soured milk), crushed walnuts for body and whole pistachios for taste and good looks, and some rosemary for absolute seduction.
3) It's speedy enough to be made by the lazy after work.
Even my souped up version can be made in the small window between my arrival home and the commencement of Hollyoaks (leave Warren, Louise). It bakes during the episode and leaves you enough time to turn off the tv (in fact it was never on in the first place...I'm not an addict) and start chopping for dinner. If your dining companion is then 15 minutes late, you will be pulling out the loaf just as he arrives and give the impression that a lot of hard work has taken place, when actually you were mostly watching your stories. Theoretically.
4) Oh my god it's still winter and we still have to eat winter food.
Why won't it end? It's not cold here, but it's still very dark and very wet. A brief reprieve this past week only makes the coming days of gloom even harder to bear. And we still have to eat winter food long after that was a new and sexy idea. No one wants more stew or soup or braises and no one wants to wear their jumpers/sweaters anymore. And yet it persists. Oh well. You won't think about this bread in the summer, but it will make you feel a little bit better now.
5) Because we all need some flexibility in our lives.
I tried to balance the flavours in this loaf so it could make a smooth transition from evening companion to breakfast pal. When we ate the first few warm slices they were covered with wilted spinach cooked with bacon and shallots topped with a garlic fried egg and served with some garlic and cumin yogurt. Nice. This combination is pretty sure of a place in our standard rotation from now on.
The next morning I had one slice with crowdie, a very ancient and soft cheese of the Highlands, and plum jam. I then had a slice with butter and honey. I was not hungry at all for almost five hours after that. It's a filling wee bread.
6) I could not have made this any better for you.
I wish I could figure out the nutrient content of this baby! Do you see how much fiber and protein and sources of vitamins and omega 3 there are? But despite all of that, it still taste delicious. Honestly. It doesn't taste delicious the way that carob is supposed to taste delicious. Just because only really nice things went into it in the first place.
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This recipe is dedicated to Jess -- not because she has the baking expertise of a goat, in fact she is a lady at one with dough -- but because I hope it's a bread she'll be able to eat. And because I miss her most of the days of the week.
A note for people with Sensitive Geniuses: This bread would be good for you! Does it sound like it has too much fiber for your genius? You can make it with some white flour instead, maybe with some oats thrown in. The dinner I ate last night would be pretty safe too. Just take out anything tricky like the bacon or the shallots (I know it's very, very depressing). Put some lemon in the spinach instead. Use probiotic yogurt if you can do dairy. For breakfast, skip the crowdie in favour of jam, honey, avocado or even some old, hard cheese (the lactose breaks down over time making it easier to digest for some).
P.S. I first categorized this under British Food Recipes. Can you imagine? Dan would have murdered me in my sleep. This is clearly a recipe for Irish Soda Bread and it now has its own category even if nothing else ever comes to join it.
