Garlic soda bread

I have made my aubergine and ricotta lasagne and it needs some fresh garlic bread to accompany it. Soda bread is the easiest loaf to knock up on a school night, with no yeast or time needed for it to rise. It can be mixed and then baked immediately. Any combination of filling will do. See also my marmite and cheese soda bread.

This is a small loaf. Just double the proportions for a larger loaf.

What you will need
250g plain flour
1 tea spoon bicarbonate of soda
200ml of plain (live) yoghurt
Milk (optional)
4-5 cloves chopped garlic
Chopped chives

Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl and season the mix well with salt. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the yoghurt. Add the chopped garlic and herbs into the well with the yoghurt. Start to bring the outside in and stir the flour mix into the yoghurt to combine. If the dough is too dry, you might want to add just an extra tea spoon or two of milk to the mix to bring it all together.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and knead slightly to pull together into a ball. This shouldn’t take very long at all. Place the ball onto a non stick oven tray or some greaseproof paper.

Make a cross in the middle of the loaf with a knife or the handle of a wooden spoon, being careful not to go all the way through. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes at 200 degrees. The loaf should be crisp and hard on the outside and soft and light on the inside.

Eat this straightaway whilst warm, spread with butter or a drizzle of olive oil. It can also be toasted the next day or splashed with water and given a short blast in the oven to bring it back to life.

With thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for the fail-safe base recipe for this bread. I keep meaning to try the one he makes with beer as this also does not require any yeast. Watch this space.