We had a Zoom call to family in New Zealand the other morning and it seems that they are struggling with essentials there too – flour is fairly difficult but they’ve all managed to get some now but yeast is a no go.  I started off trying to work out how to make bread with beer and thinking about whether the yeast in Marmite might work (answer to that is a big fat no as too much salt in it).  Then it came to me – via a few friendly nudges – soda bread!  I did think about sour dough and have sent out a recipe for the starter but let’s face it – it’s not a quick fix.

I have made soda bread lots of ways in the past but this is my own recipe.  Not low carb.  I am, though, going to try this several ways tomorrow to see if that is possible.  I made this with what I have available – I’m sure plain flour would work instead of the stuff I used.

I didn’t have any buttermilk but I do have an abundance of Greek yoghurt so that’s what I went with.  I use a pizza stone when I’m baking freehand bread – if you don’t have one this would bake well in a loaf tin or on a baking tray.

Ingredients

300g wholemeal Canadian strong bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

300g Greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

50g kibbled onions

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Sieve together the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a good sized bowl.  It’s really important to sieve the bicarb in particular as otherwise it can form little clumps and you won’t get a good rise.
• Add in the kibbled onions, yoghurt and honey and mix together with your hands until it forms a cohesive dough
• Tip out onto a floured board and form into a ball (no need to knead)
• Press gently down on the ball to form a dome and then make a deep cross in the top with a knife (to let the steam out)
• Bake for 35 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped