Soda Bread (Dublin's No-Yeast Wonder with Buttermilk and a Cross) 🍞

Método

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 220 °C and line a baking sheet. Whisk flour, bicarb and salt (and caraway if using) in a wide bowl, well in to the centre.

2. 2

   Make a deep well and pour in almost all the buttermilk. With one hand — fingers spread like a claw, the traditional 'hand of hope' — draw the flour into the liquid until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Do not knead. Ten seconds of mixing is the whole craft.

3. 3

   Tip onto a floured board, shape into a round with cupped hands, settle it on the sheet. Pat a shallow cross into the top with a floured knife — deep, four quadrants.

4. 4

   Bake 15 minutes at 220 °C, then 15–20 more at 200 °C until the crust is burnished and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped underneath.

5. 5

   Wrap in a clean cloth while it cools a little (this steams the crust soft, the way markets do it) and eat the same day: split top and bottom, butter thickly, with soup or a fry.