Woman’s Hour "Cook the perfect soda bread"

I sometimes like to listen to Radio 4 while I sew, and Woman’s Hour is a particular favourite of mine.  My grandmother Betty would listen to the show while she was ironing and I remember hearing it when I was little, so it brings back warm and cosy memories for me.  Will prefers to play music while she works but I wonder if one day she might look back fondly on my love of Radio 4 and not groan when she hears the Archers theme tune?

Recently, Woman’s Hour have been running a series called “Cook the perfect...” which I have enjoyed theoretically without feeling the need to actually try any of the recipes.  However, last week’s programme was all about soda bread and, coming from an Irish family, it is a food I recall from childhood but haven’t tasted for years.  My grandmother would sometimes make it for my Irish grandfather and with its dense texture and homely flavour, it was a comforting food.  

So when Dan Lepard offered his simple recipe to make the perfect soda bread, I had to give it a go!  His recipe has the added convenience that it can be scaled to make as little or as much bread as you like - once you have mixed the basic dry ingredients they can be stored for months in an air tight container.  Simply take the required portion of the flour mix and add the correct proportion of liquid for the quantity of bread you would like.  He suggests making small loaves in a muffin tin rather than one large loaf. 

My attempt looks rather rustic but I have to say it tasted exactly how I remember and was delicious, eaten warm from the oven with lashings of butter!  We will certainly be baking more and my son, who had never tried soda bread before, is a firm convert. 

LouLou & Will x