Why soda bread earns its place at the spring table

As the days stretch out and the kitchen starts to feel less like a bunker and more like a place you want to linger in, our cooking shifts with it. Heavy roasts give way to soups, salads and plates of cheese with something fresh alongside. That is exactly where soda bread comes into its own. It relies on bicarbonate of soda and an acid — usually buttermilk — rather than yeast, so there is no proving, no knocking back and no waiting around for a dough to come to life. From the moment you open the flour to the moment the loaf is in the oven is roughly ten minutes, which leaves the rest of the afternoon for a walk, a pot of soup, or a proper spring lunch.

A seeded version adds substance without weight: enough chew and nuttiness to stand up to mature cheddar, salty butter and pickles, but still light enough to eat alongside a bowl of pea and mint soup.

The ingredients, and the ratio that matters

Soda bread is forgiving, but the balance of flour, liquid and raising agent is not guesswork. Work to roughly 500g flour to 400ml buttermilk, with a rounded teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and a good teaspoon of fine salt. Too little acid and you will taste the soda; too much liquid and you will get a flat, dense disc. For one seeded loaf you will want:

• 350g plain flour and 150g wholemeal — the wholemeal brings flavour and a little extra texture
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 tsp fine salt
• 75g mixed seeds, plus a handful for the top
• 400ml buttermilk, or 380ml milk with 2 tbsp lemon juice or natural yoghurt stirred in and left for ten minutes
• 1 tbsp honey or treacle, optional, for a softer crumb and a deeper colour

You will also want a large bowl, a dough scraper or a blunt knife, a baking tray lined with parchment, and a cooling rack. That is the whole kit.

Getting the best from your seeds

Seeds are where a plain soda bread becomes something worth writing about, but they need a bit of thought. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds benefit from a few minutes in a dry pan over a medium heat until they smell nutty and start to colour — four or five minutes, and it transforms the finished loaf. Poppy, sesame and hemp seeds can go in straight from the packet. If you are using linseed, golden or brown, bear in mind that it drinks liquid; add an extra two or three tablespoons of buttermilk to compensate.

• Toasted pumpkin, sunflower and poppy — a dependable everyday mix
• Sesame, hemp and a little cracked black pepper — excellent with cheese
• Sunflower, oat flakes and a pinch of fennel seed — lovely with smoked fish

Resist the urge to add every seed you own. Around 15 per cent of the flour weight is plenty; more and the dough struggles to hold together.

Mixing, shaping and the light touch

This is the part where most loaves go wrong, and it has nothing to do with skill. Soda bread rewards a quick, light hand. Whisk the flours, bicarb, salt and seeds together in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk. Bring it together with a table knife or your fingers in sweeping motions, working for no more than thirty seconds. You want a shaggy, slightly sticky dough with a few dry patches — not a smooth, kneaded ball. Kneading develops gluten, and in soda bread that means a tough, close-textured loaf.

Turn it onto a lightly floured surface, shape it into a round about 20cm across with floured hands, and do not press it down. Transfer to the lined tray. Cut a deep cross into the top with a sharp knife, going about two-thirds of the way down — this lets the heat in and helps the loaf open evenly. Brush the top with a little buttermilk and scatter over the reserved seeds, pressing them gently so they stick.

Baking, cooling and the patience bit

Heat the oven to 200°C fan, 220°C conventional, gas mark 7, and give it a good twenty minutes to come to temperature. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The loaf is ready when it is deep golden, sounds hollow when you tap the base, and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly, lay a sheet of foil over it after twenty minutes.

Now the hard part: cool it on a rack for at least thirty minutes before slicing. Cutting hot soda bread tears the crumb and leaves it gummy, no matter how good the loaf is. Once cool, wrap it in a clean tea towel. It is best on the day of baking and perfectly good toasted on the second day, and slices freeze well for up to a month.

Spring lunches to go with it

This loaf is at its best with the season's lighter cooking. Think a bowl of watercress and potato soup, a plate of young radishes with good butter and sea salt, or soft goat's cheese with wild garlic stirred through it. For sandwiches, slice a little thicker than you would a white loaf and pair it with strong flavours that can hold their own against the seeds.

• Smoked trout, cucumber and dill, on generously buttered slices
• Mature cheddar, apple and a smear of mustard
• Ham, pea shoots and a little piccalilli
• Mashed avocado, lemon and toasted seeds, for something quick

Make it once and it will become the loaf you turn to every week between now and summer — no yeast, no fuss, and a very good lunch at the end of it.