I don't make soad breads very often. I tend to like either relatively sweet, batter-based quick breads or long-fermented yeasted breads better. But we've been out of bread for quite a while now and I keep not having the spoons to make more, so I figured I'd try out this sourdough soda bread as a stop-gap until I feel up to making more "real" bread. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks nice and I want to get the write up out of the way before it becomes another thing piled onto my backlog.

Sourdough Soda Bread

From Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, chilled
• 350g sourdough starter (fresh or discard) @ 100% hydration
• 1 c. buttermilk¹
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 egg²

Directions

1. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the butter.
3. Combine the starter, buttermilk, and honey in a large measuring cup.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.
5. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet, working from the centre out ward.
6. Once most of the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto your work surface and knead it for ~20 minutes. Lightly flour the work surface as needed, but don't overdo it! It's generally better for the dough to be a little too wet than too dry.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°F (350°C).
8. Divide the dough into two equal portions.
9. Knead each portion a few strokes and shape into a round ball.
10. Grease a large baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
11. Place the dough balls, seam side down, on the baking sheet.
12. Cut a deep cross in the top of each one. Don't be afraid to go most of the way through the loaf. Some people even do cut all the way through and then just leave the four pieces lightly pressed against each other on the baking sheet.
13. Prepare your egg wash as you prefer and brush both loaves with egg.
14. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-45 minutes.
15. When done, transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ As usual, I didn't have any buttermilk on hand. Normally I would have just used some milk soured with a bit of vinegar, but I went with 1/2 c. of sour cream thinned with 1/2 c. of milk for this one. Mostly because I still had a bunch of sour cream that needed to be used up. I think this makes a better buttermilk substitute anyway since sour cream uses the same culture as buttermilk. ^Back
2 I like to mix my egg with a little water (maybe a Tbsp. or so) for my egg wash, but make your wash however you prefer for this. You won't need the whole egg, so save the rest for another use or cook it up as scrambled eggs. ^Back