Posted by Willie mc Curdy on March 07, 1999 at 18:38:36:
In Reply to: Irish Soda Bread posted by B Samol on March 04, 1999 at 22:07:59:
: I am searching for a good Recipe for I rish soda bread. For 100 guests. Please help.
This recipie is from "Talking about Cakes" by Margaret Bates (Penguin Books 1973).
Margaret Bates was Vice-Principal of the City of Belfast College of Domestic Science,
and also wrote "The Belfast Cookery Book" and "Talking about Puddings". Miss Bates died in 1968.
1 lb flour, 1 teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon baking soda, half a teaspoon of cream of tartar
and buttermilk to mix.
Sieve the flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar into a bowl. Be careful to avoid
all lumps in the soda, and if necessary crush in the palm of the hand before sieving.
Then, using a metal spoon, mix lightly and quickly with the buttermilk; add just sufficient
to give a soft but not sticky, dough. It is difficult to give an exact quantity of milk as this varies with the flour.
Turn the dough on to a lightly floured board and shape into a round cake using floured hands.
Cut into four farls and either bake in a hot oven or cook on the griddle.
Suggested oven temperatures are mark 7 or 450 F, and the cake of bread will require approximately
30 minutes according to the thickness of the farls.
If cooked on the griddle, turn after 5-7 minutes, when it should be nicely browned on the underside
and complete the cooking on the other side.
Soda bread is all the softer for being wrapped in the flods of a clean cloth to cool.
Willie's comments:
I am not a professional baker but I would offer the following observations.
Griddle or hotplate farls are superior to oven baked farls.
A professional would mix a batch large enough to load his hotplate or hotplates,
(pancake griddle in the USA? but set at a lower heat?) by hand in a large mixing bowl.
After shaping into rounds each round in cut into quarters (the farls). Take two
quarters, vertically flip one quarter over and gently press the two farls together
and place the pair of farls on the hotplate. Repeat for the other 2 farls and all
the other rounds. You get a lot more farls on the hotplate this way.
Do a few test bakes until you get the heat setting OK.
I have seen rofessionals cover the fully loaded hotplate with damp flour sacks (linnen)
as the moisture helps the rise. Check often to avoid burned or tough crust.
Cover the farls with clean cloths when cooling.
If you can get a supply of Irish soda bread flour, just add the buttermilk.
Bakers butternilk seems richer that the shop (store) kind. If you do not have buttermilk
add a few drops of lemon juice to plain milk and leave it to stand for a few minutes.
Everyone has their favourite brand of flour. When mixing, keep the hand work very light.
Neill's and Andrews (the family firm of the designer of the Titanic) are good.
I prefer Mortons "Early Riser" Soda Bread Flour. Mortons give 8 ounces (225 gms) of
soda bread flour to one quarter (UK) pint (150 mls) of buttermilk for four farls.
Mortons Soda Bread Flour ingredients are listed as;
Flour, Raising Agents:(Acid Sodium Pyrophosphate, Acid Calcium Phosphate, Sodiul Bicarbonate), salt.
Morton's address is:
Percy Street, Belfast, BT13 2HW, Northern Ireland.
Wheat meal flour can be substituted for part of the plain flour for Wheaten farls,
corn meal for Indian farls, or some treacle can be added to the plain mix for treacle farls.
When cooled split the farls (quarters) in two and cut each split half into two
fry in hot fat or oil with potato bread, small pancakes, bacon, sausage,
black pudding (blood sausage), tomato halves and over easy eggs for a full Irish breakfast.
You did not say, but if you wanted a tea bread, if so use double the mix add some dried sultanas
and raisins, dried mixed peel too if liked. Bake in the oven in square tins (the rise should be about double)
and tip out and cover with clean cloths while on the cooling rack.
Slice when cool and spread with Butter.