Being French, something that I really missed here in the UK has been fresh bread from the bakery. So, for the past 10 years, I have been making big loaves of French bread to feed the whole family and friends.
But this require to be organised (you need a good 4 hours from start to finish to make a loaf) and I occasionally find myself without any bread.
A quick fix to this kind of crisis is the good old soda bread - in less than 40mins (cooking time included) you can get it on the dining table and everyone will be delighted!
The only caveat is that it requires having buttermilk in your fridge but if you don't do not worry: you can replace it by yogurt and milk or water - it will work just fine!
Here I mix oat flour and white flour because I love the taste of oat (and it is full of fibre) but you can use any kind of flour: wholemeal, spelt, etc.
Ingredients:
250 g oat flour (or porridge oats that you whizz into powder in your blender)
250 g plain white flour
420 ml buttermilk
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Mix all the dry ingredients together then add the buttermilk, mix (in a mixer or manually) and knead it for a minute.
Shape it into a ball, place it onto a baking tray with a floured silicon mat (or parchment paper) and flatten it a bit.
Dust a bit of flour on top and make a few cuts (2 or 3) to turn it into a flower (see picture), pulling the segments slightly apart.
If you have time, leave it to rest 20 mins before putting it in the oven. But if you are in a rush pop it into the hot oven, in its middle.
Bake for 30 mins until the loaf is golden.
Ideally you would leave it to cool down a bit on a rack but if you are short of time, serve it warm and enjoy. It is delicious with a soup and slightly salted butter!