Wild Garlic Soda Bread
In honour of Saint Patrick's Day, I devised this green-tinted loaf which combines the seasonal flavour of wild garlic with the tradition of Irish soda bread. My preferred name for this loaf is 'Craggy Saint Paddy Bread', mainly for the rhyme but also due to the bread's unapologetically rustic appearance (and, perhaps, because 'craggy' is likely how people will be feeling the morning after Saint Patrick's Day celebrations).
This bread is really simple to make. Once you've found a patch of wild garlic, the rest is quick: the dough comes together in minutes and it takes only half an hour to bake. Enjoy it spread with butter, topped with cheese, and/or with a pint of Guinness. Happy Saint Paddy's Day!
Ingredients
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C non fan). Chop the washed wild garlic and use a hand blender (or a food processor) to blend it together with the buttermilk and milk. The mixture will turn a gorgeous light green colour.
In honour of Saint Patrick's Day, I devised this green-tinted loaf which combines the seasonal flavour of wild garlic with the tradition of Irish soda bread. My preferred name for this loaf is 'Craggy Saint Paddy Bread', mainly for the rhyme but also due to the bread's unapologetically rustic appearance (and, perhaps, because 'craggy' is likely how people will be feeling the morning after Saint Patrick's Day celebrations).
This bread is really simple to make. Once you've found a patch of wild garlic, the rest is quick: the dough comes together in minutes and it takes only half an hour to bake. Enjoy it spread with butter, topped with cheese, and/or with a pint of Guinness. Happy Saint Paddy's Day!
Ingredients
- 30g wild garlic, washed
- 200ml buttermilk
- 100ml milk
- 350g soda bread flour (I use Shipton Mill's) OR half wholemeal and half plain flour
- 20g lard or butter
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- Baking tray
- Electric hand blender or food processor
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C non fan). Chop the washed wild garlic and use a hand blender (or a food processor) to blend it together with the buttermilk and milk. The mixture will turn a gorgeous light green colour.
2. In a large bowl, rub the lard or butter into the flour until it's fully dispersed. Add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and caster sugar (I was out of white caster so I had to use golden). Stir.
3. Create a well and pour in the wild garlic liquid. Stir until a dough forms. Sprinkle flour over the surface of a baking tray and then place the dough on top in a circular shape. Flatten it slightly and cut or press a cross shape into the top if desired. Bake for about 30 minutes until noticeably golden and, when you tap the bottom of the loaf, it sounds hollow. Transfer to a cooling tray. Enjoy spread with butter.