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a load of bacon, chive and cheese soda bread in a black cast iron frypan on a floured surface

Irish Bacon and Cheddar Soda Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Emma Lee
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Resting Time (optional): 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 1 loaf 1x
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Irish

Description

Soda Bread… The ultimate quick bread. A time-poor mum’s Sunday morning savior when she hasn’t got a loaf of sourdough on the go. In under an hour, this savory soda bread will save your bacon (pardon the pun!) and give you a delicious, yet totally easy to bake, loaf of bread for the Sunday table.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 350g plain flour
  • 1 tsp salt flakes
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp chopped chives
  • 120g cheddar, coarsely grated
  • 170g streaky bacon, cut into a rough 1cm sq dice.
  • 300ml buttermilk
  • 1 tbsp honey

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pop aside.
  3. In a frypan on a medium heat, fry off the bacon bits until browned and slighly crispy on the ends (about 5 minutes)
  4. Add the bacon to the bowl of dry ingredients. Add grated cheddar and chopped chives. Combine.
  5. In a small bowl add the honey to the buttermilk and give a good stir. 
  6. Add the buttermilk mixture to the mixing bowl with other ingredients. Stir just to combine, but no more. The mixture should be quite wet. This is completely normal. Cover with a clean tea towel and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
  7. Form the dough into a rough ball and pop onto a piece of baking paper on a baking tray (or like I do, into a cast iron frypan). Using the back of a wet spoon, gently smooth over the surface to guide it into a round, bread dough. Score the top of the dough with a large X.
  8. Pop into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. 

Notes

I like to rest my dough for 30 minutes, however, this is optional. I feel you get a better result by resting the gluten. However, I make it both with and without the resting step depending on how time-poor I am that day.