Bread Baking Babes on the run - White Soda Bread With Herbs

Boy am I happy that I chose this bread as the Bread of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes because between job sessions, headaches due to job sessions and the usual worries that are attached to having teens, I completely lost track of time and when I saw a Babe tweet about soda bread this morning, I slapped my front and said something I am not going to say here. But because of the 'premonitial' choice of soda bread, I can post about it now, it is so quick to make that even a forgetful Bread Baking Babe can make it in a whiff.

I often have to make soda bread because of my forgetfulness, twice a week one of my children need to bring lunch to school and sometimes I have to get up a bit earlier (not that much earlier though) to bake bread for the lunch sandwiches. I usually use a recipe from an Irish bread book (what else could I use, after all they are the masters of soda bread) called The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen and I thought we could use another one in it with herbs in it now when summer is almost here! So here you are, I hope you will like it! I know one Babe has had problems with the taste due to chemical reactions, I didn't and that is why I like the recipes in this book because with their soda breads I never have had that problem. You tell me if you had flavour problems with it when you bake it because this one you cannot pass by, it is so fast, so simple and so pretty delicious that you just have to be a Bread Baking Buddy this month! You have to! So bake it, blog it and send me the link ( luculliandelights  AT gmail DOT com, put Bread Baking Buddy in the subject line please) before the 28th of June and I will include you in the Buddy roundup on the 29th (hopefully, it might be a little later because I'm in Milan working that week)!

And do check out the other Babes breads, links here.

WHITE SODA BREAD WITH HERBS
from The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

1 loaf

450 g/1lb plain white four
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved
1 dessert spoon each of rosemary, sage and chives, all freshly chopped
400 ml/ 14 fl oz buttermilk

Heat up the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F

Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda into a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

The trick with all soda breads is not to over-mix the dough. Mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.

Gently roll the ball of dough around with floury hands for a few seconds, just enough to tidy up. Then pat it gently into a round, about 5 cm/2 in high.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in the middle of it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Then prick the four triangles with your knife: according to Irish folklore this will let the fairies out!

Put this into your preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for a further 25 minutes, or until cooked. When the bread is cooked it will sound hollow when tapped.