As it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I felt the need to bake a soda bread. Googling will take you to a bunch of results for recipes, I based mine off of a traditional version; here the gist of what I did.
Whole-Wheat Mini Irish Soda Bread
Preheated oven to 400 degrees F. 1/4 cup almond milk and 1 teaspoon white vinegar mixed to make “buttermilk” and set it aside for 5 minutes. Whisked 60 g coarse-ground whole wheat flour and 30 g whole wheat pastry flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon raw sugar and a pinch of caraway seeds. Made a well in the center of the dry mixture and poured in all buttermilk at once, mixed quickly with a fork until it just came together, then mounded it in a mini 6.5″ cast iron skillet, scored it into quarters with a serrated knife, into the oven for 25 minutes (tapped on the bottom to make sure it was done).
It’s good, but not extraordinary. Using the whole wheat flour gives it a nutty taste, was just sweet enough (but not too sweet and the caraway seeds give off a nice anise flavor. I had a quarter of the loaf this morning for breakfast, with a thin layer of Marmite (love it? hate it?) spread on top.
I also had another quarter toasted with some tamarind toor dal that I had made the day before; it was the epitome of comfort food.
