Olive and chorizo soda bread

SM 2013-02 p.83

Preparation / Cooking time: about 1h all told

Soda bread is unbelievably easy to make, so the real hard work in this recipe comes from slicing some olives and dicing a little chunk of chorizo ... yes, we know, horrendously complicated and tiresome! This is a lovely bread, perfect for lunches (on its own, or with cheese, or perhaps a dash of seasoned oil: whatever takes your fancy). The recipe does call for kneading the dough lightly, but it is a bit soggy for that using the quantities given: if you just mix it well, turn it out onto the baking tray and pat it into shape with wooden spoon / spatula, that works fine.

Ingredients
450g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp caster sugar
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
75g diced chorizo
10 pitted green olives, sliced
quarter tsp crushed dried chilli
300ml buttermilk
100ml milk
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (fan 200°), gas 7. You can use either a silicon baking sheet or a large baking tray for baking the bread: if using a tray, put it in the oven to pre-heat.

2. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, and mix in the diced chorizo, sliced olives and dried chilli. Make a well in the centre. In a jug, mix together the buttermilk, milk and lemon juice.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.

4. Lightly dust a work surface [or the silicon baking sheet, if you are using one] with a little flour and knead the dough to just bring it to an 18cm round loaf. Don't be tempted to over-work it, as this will result in tough bread. [If your dough is a bit runny for this, see comment above.]

5. Score a cross in the top of the dough [doesn't matter if you don't] and transfer the loaf to the pre-heated baking tray [if you are using one].

6. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C (fan 180°), gas 7, and bake the bread on the middle shelf for 45 minutes until risen, golden and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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