Bacon and Spring Onion soda bread is a sister post to the Carrot and Coriander recipe— quick and easy bread recipes to complement winter soups, picnics, or cheese platters.
The formula is the same, but lightly fry the spring onion and bacon before adding them to the flour mixture. Soad bread is quick and easy at any time of the year, with ingredients close to hand. Change the flavour to match your recipe or suit the season. The great advantage of soda bread is that it doesn’t need any resting or proofing time. In fact, the quicker it is in the oven, the better to profit from the soda/buttermilk reaction. Also, most likely, all the ingredients are in your cupboard. Add a little vinegar or lemon to whole cream milk as a substitute for buttermilk or, as most often do, full-fat yoghurt or kefir.
These are two combinations to get you started, but after that, follow the formula and create your recipes to complement the meal you are serving the bread with. If you want to add mixed seeds – it’s probably better to stick with my Traditional Irish Soda Bread recipe.
The flavour combinations are endless, but here are a few to spark your imagination. Grated courgette or beetroot is good with feta and fresh dill. Feta and olives and sun-dried tomatoes and basil are also good. Finely sliced leeks with cheddar and bacon would need pre-cooking, like spring onions.
Happy baking.
Bacon and Spring Onion Soda Bread
Equipment
- 1 450g (1lb) loaf tin lined with baking paper
Ingredients
- 140 g wholemeal flour (not bread flour)
- 140 g all-purpose flour (not bread flour)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 50 g finely chopped spring onions
- 50 g diced pancetta or bacon
- 240 ml buttermilk or whole milk/yoghurt with 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 230 °C.
- Sieve the bicarbonate of soda, flour, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the bacon and spring onions. Rub into the flour until it is thoroughly coated and mixed. This is important to make sure they are evenly distributed.
- Add the buttermilk and with one hand pull the mixture together. Keep adding buttermilk until you have a scraggy soft dough. Dont overmix it.
- Fill a lined loaf tin with the dough. With a wet knife, make a slash down the centre of the loaf, which helps the loaf cook evenly.
- Once the buttermilk is added, work quickly – the reaction with the bicarbonate of soda has started!
- Bake immediately for 15-20 minutes – then turn the oven to 200 °C. Bake for another 20 minutes – cover with foil if it starts to brown too quickly. The bread is ready when the base is tapped and sounds hollow.
- If you would like a cheesy topping – add a handful of grated cheese to the top of the bread 10 minutes before it has finished cooking.
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