I've made many, many different quick breads over the years. Most of them tend to be batter breads though. Soda breads are a bit different. They're made with a chemically leavened dough that gets shaped into a free-form loaf, rather than relying on a pan for shaping. And while I certainly have made soda breads in the past, they're a much less frequent occurence in my kitchen.

This one isn't out of the oven yet, but it smells divine! The scents of the butter and buttermilk really come though. And, although it didn't call for it, I also added ~250g of sourdough starter. Not because I felt that the bread would derive any great benefit from it, but because I desperately needed to use some starter up! Feel free to leave the starter out if you're making this and use the lesser amount of flour. It should be just fine either way. You will just have a slightly smaller (and even richer) loaf without the starter in.

Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 350g whole wheat flour
• 150-200g all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
3. Combine the flours, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
4. Rub in the butter until it is thoroughly combined.
5. Sift in the baking soda and mix.
6. Beat the egg with the buttermilk.
7. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the sourdough discard (if using).
8. Mix thoroughly.
9. Turn out onto a floured surface and mix by hand to make sure everything is thoroughly incorporated.
10. Shape into a round ball and place on the prepared baking sheet.
11. Slash a large X in the top ~1cm deep.
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30-40 minutes.