Cheese&onion soda bread

March 13, 2018

We’ve had a basic soda bread, time to raise the bar a bit. Here is a party version.

Mieliśmy standardowy chleb na sodzie, czas podnieść poprzeczkę. Oto imprezowa wersja.

If you want to make a St. Patrick’s Day party, you can bake this loaf. Strong flavours of Cheddar and onion will make a perfect savory snack for your friends. As a small extra, I used red onion which turns green in contact with soda, so this will match the theme.

This bread is based on the basic recipe which I presented on Monday, but is inspired by another recipe , from Paul Hollywod’s “100 Great Breads” book (sources). In his book he used baking powder in the recipes, not sure why, but I decided to stick with the one I already tried.

Cheese and onion soda bread

Planning

You need about 10-15 minutes to heat up the oven and prepare the dough while this is happening, then 30 minutes for baking.

You’ll need some baking tray and a baking parchment.

Ingredients

I made two smaller loaves.

250 g strong white wheat flour
250 g strong wholemeal wheat flour
10 g bicarbonate of soda
10 g salt
400 g buttermilk
One small finely diced onion (I used red onion)
75 grated cheddar

Preparation

Set your oven to 180-200 C degrees. Know your oven
While it’s warming up, mix all dry ingredients of the dough in a bowl
Next start adding the buttermilk and mix it in till the whole flour becomes incorporated. I started with 200 g and gradually added the rest. 400 g was enough for me, but you might need a bit more. Remember to act quick as the reaction between the soda and buttermilk has already started
Add cheese and onion and work them into the dough
Shape two balls out of dough, place on the baking parchment, flatten a bit, make a deep cross score on top and put in the oven. I added a bit of steam
Bake for about 30 minutes
Let it cool down a bit before eating, it can be served warm
Cheese and onion soda bread