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Cheese Soda Bread

This light, soft and deliciously cheesy version of soda bread is so quick and easy to make.

Serve sliced with butter or in chunks alongside soups, stews, salads etc. Great toasted too!

For a well risen, light and fluffy result, work quickly and don't handle the dough too much.

Course Bread
Cuisine British, European, Scottish, Irish, English
Keyword no knead bread, easy, quick bread
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 8
Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

  • 125 ml plain yogurt see Recipe Note 1
  • 125 ml milk see Recipe Note 1
  • 300 g plain white flour (plus extra for sprinkling) see Recipe Note 2
  • 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda see Recipe Note 3
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 150 g strong mature Cheddar cheese grated and divided 125g/25g

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 200c / 180 Fan / Gas 6 with a shelf in the middle position.

    Line a baking tray with baking paper and sprinkle it with flour.

  2. Stir together the yogurt and milk.

  3. Stir together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

    Sift it into a large mixing bowl.

  4. Stir 125g of the grated cheese into the flour mixture.

  5. Note: from this step until you put the bread in the oven it's important to work quickly. The bicarbonate of soda is activated as soon as it's mixed with the liquid so try to get it in the oven within 3-4 minutes.

    Make a well in the centre of the flour then pour approximately 3/4 of the yogurt and milk mixture into it.

    Stir to combine into a wet, ragged dough, adding more of the liquid as needed. You may not need all the liquid, but make sure there are no dry bits of flour as this can affect the taste and even the colour of the finished loaf.

  6. Scrape the dough onto the middle of the baking paper.

    Use a palette knife or similar, dipped in flour, to push the dough into a circle approximately 14 cm in diameter.

    Dip a sharp knife in flour and cut a deep cross into the dough without going all the way through.

    Sprinkle the top with the remaining 25g of cheese.

  7. Immediately put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes (turn around halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly) or until the bread is risen, deep golden in colour and sounds hollow-ish when tapped underneath.

  8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before slicing and serving spread with butter or torn into chunks to serve with soup, salad, etc.

    Best eaten within 2 days or can be frozen. Excellent toasted and spread with butter on the second day.

Recipe Notes

Note #1 Liquid. To activate the bicarbonate of soda which causes the bread to rise, the liquid needs to be acidic. I get best results using half plain yogurt and half whole milk. Although you can replace this with buttermilk OR 1 tablespoon of lemon juice stirred into milk and left for 10 minutes, the results may not be exactly the same.

Note #2 Flour. You can replace some or all of the white flour with wholemeal if you prefer. However, soda bread made with wholemeal will usually be flatter. Plain flour, not bread flour, should be used for soda bread.

Note #3 Bicarbonate of Soda. Do not use products labelled baking powder for soda bread, only bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda in the US). If your pack has been open for more than 6 months, even if it's within the Best Before date, it's probably best to replace it. Don't be tempted to use more than stated in the recipe: level a teaspoonful by drawing the flat edge of a knife across it to remove excess.