Food is magic. Especially Bread.
Ingredients start as one thing and end up as something else. Think about the magic of bread. Flour, leavening, and sugar combined to make a mushy mess. Pop them in the oven and they transform into a meal…If that’s not magic then I’m no magician. Soda bread is one of my favorites to make. It is incredibly simple and requires no resting or kneading; it’s a bread for the real working women:) This Rye Soda Bread is earthy and dense. A perfect compliment to a stew or simple dinner. Douse it in olive oil and sea salt and you’ll be thinking magic thoughts too.
Rye Soda Bread
adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day
5 oz rye flour
4 oz all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400ºF
Mix your flours, baking soda, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Add your buttermilk. Flop the messy mixture out onto a well floured surface and gentle kneed/add more flour until you have a relatively sticky mound of dough. Remember this isn’t a regular dough so don’t expect a typical yeast-based consistency.
I rolled my mound into four dinner rolls. With a knife slice a cross through each roll and sprinkle with flour. Then place rolls on a parchment covered baking sheet.
Bake for around 40 minutes, until the bread is very solid and sounds hollow with you give it a good knock with your knuckles.
The rolls last for a few days in an airtight container.
I ate one for dinner and one the next morning with almond butter and apricot jam!. I simply love this recipe and think it can be adjusted easily. I’d like to try it with half rye & half buckwheat flour to further bump up the earthy qualities already present in the soda bread.
The bread is dense & light in flavor.
Eat This!
Run this. Eat that 