Soda bread is the traditional bread of Ireland and our greatest gift to international cuisine.  In the past there was always plenty of buttermilk left over from the butter making and people who grew wheat, ground it into flour.  Those who didn't, would buy their flour in big cloth bags.  These bags, when empty, were washed, taken apart and then sown into sheets.  In some areas, when people had stopped churning, a lorry came round from the creamery with buttermilk.  People baked every day and would buy a can of buttermilk.  A bottle of buttermilk would not have lasted long.  Today soda bread still appears on breakfast and tea tables the length and breadth of Ireland even though it is often bought rather than home-made.

It is important to get the dough to the right consistency.  The mixture should not be too dry.  On the other hand too much liquid will make the bread heavy.  Only experience teaches you the right amount of buttermilk to use.

White Irish soda bread is made from ordinary white flour.  Brown soda bread is made from wholemeal or wheaten flour, although most people add a small proportion of white flour as this makes it easier to cut.

Soda bread is always 'crossed' on top.  This keeps it from cracking in the baking.  The cuts should go over the sides of the scone to make sure of this.

OVEN SODA BREAD
1 lb. flour                         
1 tsp. salt                         
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
Buttermilk to mix

Sieve the dry ingredients together several times.  Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk gradually; mixing in the flour from the sides.  Turn onto a floured board and knead lightly for a few minutes.  Form into a round scone.  Cross the top, brush with milk and put on a baking tin.  Bake in a hot oven at 400º F, gas mark 6, for about 45 minutes.

In the days of the open hearth, the mixture was put in a small metal pot which had already been greased.  The pot was then hung on the crook with some red cinders placed on the lid to 'harn' the top.