I wanted to give you guys a no-yeast bread option since I know that it’s hard to find yeast these days during the pandemic. This Irish Soda Bread uses baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to rise and it’s really delicious.
This Irish soda bread has a texture somewhere in between a bread and a cake. It definitely breaks more easily than bread but isn’t spongy like a cake. You can add raisins to it (I LOVE IT WITH RAISINS! Sorry – didn’t mean to yell), nuts, seeds, etc. I love to have it with a bit of butter and honey, it’s AMAZING. This bread is traditionally made with buttermilk, but in general, it’s a very difficult ingredient to find in Latin America (I live in Chile). Instead of that, I use a mix of yoghurt and milk to activate the bicarbonate of soda that needs acidity to work.
Another type of no yeast bread that I love to make is scones! I have many recipes for them on the blog and you can go for sweet or savoury depending on what you prefer. Also, you don’t need cutters to make them, you can use a knife instead. The result is a delicious and spongy little bread! Other spongy things you can make for breakfast include waffles or pancakes! Even crêpes :).
Now, if you want to make bread and you do have yeast, then have a walk around my bread section! I love making bread, it’s like therapy to me. It’s like watching magic happen because you start with very simple ingredients and it ends up being something spectacular. Here are a few options:
- Basic white bread
- Cinnamon rolls, apple cinnamon rolls, coffee cinnamon rolls
- Cinnamon roll bread
- Brioche
- Bagels with seeds, cinnamon raisin bagels
- Pizza
- Challah bread
Ingredients
- 500 g all-purpose flour If you only have self-rising flour just use 1 tsp of baking powder + the amount of bicarbonate of soda
- 3 tsp baking powder can be replaced with 1 tsp baking soda but only if you have no choice.
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1½ tsp salt use just 1 tsp if you only have salted butter
- 50 g unsalted butter cold and cut in cubes
- 2 tsp sugar
- 250 g unsweetened greek yogurt try to use a thick one
- 75 ml milk
Instructions
- Place the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar in a bowl and stir.
- Add the butter and mix it in.
- Pinch the butter with the dry ingredients until no bit of butter are left.
- In another bowl, mix the yoghurt with the milk.
- Add the yoghurt and milk to the flour and butter mix. Mix using a spatula until it doesn't help you anymore. Finish by kneading with your hands to incorporate. Don't knead more than necessary! Only until everything comes together so that the bread doesn't become tough. If you feel that the dough is too dry, dampen your hands and mix a bit more. If it's too wet, lightly flour the surface and mix a bit more.
- Form a ball with the dough. Keep in mind that the dough isn't smooth! It's kinda ugly, it's normal, lol.
- Use a sieve or colander to lightly dust the bread with a bit of flour. Make a shallow cross on top with a knife (about 2mm deep). If it's deep it will open up like a flower so keep it shallow!
- Bake the bread in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 40 minutes or until it's golden. Then lower the temperature to 130°C/260°F for 20 more minutes so it dries up. It's normal for the bread to expand in a crazy way, it's uncontrolable!
