Irish Soda Bread

#Daring Bakes' Challenge September 2015

I'd made Irish soda bread before, but honestly never thought much of it before. It was just a quick bread, something I would whip up when I am in a rush. But, our Daring Bakers host for September, Meredith from the Poco Loco Olsons challenged us to experiment with soda bread and gave me a good reason to reconsider my views on it. Only instead of experimenting with different flavours, I decided to go back to roots and find out as much as possible about this Irish baking pride and joy. 

After pages and pages of internet research I hit the jack pot when I stumbled upon the website of The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, full of information about the history and preparation  of traditional soda bread  as created by their ancestors. 

What caught my intention was not the ingredients list, as this is pretty known and contains just flour, buttermilk, salt and baking soda, but the method of baking it. Traditionally they used a bastible pot, a variation of an ancient way of baking known to me from my own culture as sac. You have to try goods baked under the hot coal to know the difference. If nothing else would convert me to like this bread more, this fact would have. As I discovered, even covered with a heavy pan made a difference, as well as wrapping the baked bread with a damp tea towel. Worth every crumb! (Thanks Meredith !)

Here is the full recipe of a brown soda bread, as given on the Society's website: 

  

Brown Soda Bread

• 3 cups (12 oz) of wheat flour
• 1 cup (4 oz) of white flour (do not use self-rising as it already contains baking powder and salt)
• 14 ounces of buttermilk (pour in a bit at a time until the dough is moist)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

2 ounces of butter if you want to deviate a bit.

Note: I used 500 g of eight grains wholemeal flour and 400 g of buttermilk, 1 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda, no butter. 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees.  Lightly grease and flour a cake pan.  In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients. Rub in the butter until the flour is crumbly.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough.  Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot).  Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped to show it is done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Let cool and you are ready to have a buttered slice with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

P.s It works with soups too:)

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What a different world

Mum's cornbread story

I don't think that there is enough appreciation in the world for that little piece of technology called Skype (luckily I am not posting this on the day it globally went down). My parents not only bought a laptop few years ago and learned how to use Skype at the age of 74 but got so attached that my Mum would give up her entire house before she would let go of that small box that is neatly stored in the corner of their bedroom. It prolongs my life, she often says.

We rendezvous every morning before the day unfolds, and again in the evening, sometimes just to say good night, sometimes to chat over a Skype coffee. She prefers the evenings.. loves my daily reports of who, what, when and where...always asking me questions and secretly looks over my shoulder hoping to catch a detail on the table behind me or a glimpse of what is going on in the kitchen. And  there is no way that I can bake something and not show it to her first, Mum sees it first, the Nikon second.

When I showed her this ancient cornbread made with cornflour and hot water, the words started pouring out :

"What a different world! - my mother used to wrap me up in a blanket at 3 o'clock in the morning and take me with her to queue up at the Red Cross point, for a few slices of that bread after the war. I used to hate it. I longed for a white loaf, we called Somun (Turkish) that smelt divine and was such a rarity that the few times we magically got it, we would pretend that we were eating some kind of precious delicate cheese and take a bite of our regular bread and then a small bite of Somun together.
Some time later, after the war, when we had actual flour, mainly wholemeal, which was mixed with cornflour, my grandmother used to bake bread one or twice a week with wild yeast.
When school began I had a classmate from a very privileged background that would come to visit and play with me from time to time. She looked like an angel, blond and very thin, picky about what she eats... but one day, she was hungry. My grandmother tore off a piece of that bread, spread some lard over it and sprinkled it with salt and ground paprika. Apparently, my friend hadn't had such a good snack in a long time. Her mum was first astonished that she ate outside of the house at all, but even more that she kept talking about it, so she asked me what sort of bread her daughter had. To show her, my mother baked a loaf, wrapped it nicely in a clean, starched-then-ironed linen cloth and sent it  to their house - Do you remember how Nana used to make the starch with flour?-  Anyway, to say thank you, my friend's mum would send a warm white bread loaf in return.  I can still smell it.. when I close my eyes.

And you, sitting in the middle of London having almost every possible bread of the world at your disposal are blogging about this bread? What a different world! "

What a different world Cornbread

200 g cornflour or polenta
100 -150 ml hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
100 g sweet corn from can (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 C and  place a 24 cm round cake mould, or a deep baking dish of your choice to get hot
Put the cornflour, salt and sugar in a bowl and combine well, then start adding hot water until you get a bit runny but still compact almost thick paste looking dough. Stir the sweet corn in (if using and pour into the baking tray. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until it gets golden brown on the top. Do the toothpick check if you are not sure.

It can be served warm or cold and agrees very well with feta cheese and pickles.

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Easy Mushroom Flatbread

I found myself in the world of rediscovering vegetables. They stopped being a part of the fixed menu -this is what you do with your aubergines kind of thing. And amazing things started happening around our table, they were actually being given a chance by the whole family and transformed from the 'colourful stuff' that is usually pushed from one end of the plate to another to something somewhat interesting new to try. And we've got my body to thank for that as it has clearly started signalling to me that it can't stand salty stuff, additives and preservatives of any kind, and that store bought white bread is not on the top of the shopping list. But is also clearly saying what is welcome, so this is how the things are at the moment -  the meat is staying put (although I was never a big meat eater any way), my taste buds like fish a hell of a lot more, but beyond any expectations my craving  and consequently love for vegetables, of any colour and shape went through the roof, except for cucumbers and watermelons - it seems that we have a long term disagreement.  

 I don't know for sure, but I suspect that my posts might start leaning more towards my changing eating habits. It will be interesting to see how I will incorporate it into these, baking orientated pages. I won't  be giving up bread, pastry and dough in general any time soon, it's a lifelong lasting affection! And that is probably why I was drawn to this recipe so much - it combines my two current favourites dough and vegetables.

Easy Mushroom Flatbread

250 ml thick natural yoghurt

300 g flour

1/2 salt

few spoons of cold water (if needed)

300 g chestnut or button mushroom, finely sliced.

1 tbsp oil

Combine the yoghurt, flour and 1 tsp salt in a bowl, mix until combined, adding water if needed to bring dough together.Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth.Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 15 minutes or you can refrigerate for up to 24 hours.Divide the dough into 10 pieces (each about 60g). Shape into balls and then roll out on baking paper until 15cm in diameter.Top each with sliced mushrooms and use your palm to press into the dough, then roll over the dough to secure.Layer the pieces of flatbread between sheets of baking paper.Preheat a frying pan on high until hot.Brush both sides of dough with oil and cook, mushroom side-down first for about 1 minute, or until bubbled up and charred, then turn and cook for a further minute. Serve warm sprinkled with salt and herbs.

Recipe adapted from here.

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Salmon and Mushroom Skewer

and Ivana's plain Persian rice 

If you've ever tried the tomatoes that tasted so good that you didn't want to spoil the taste with seasoning, you can understand why I could survive all summer just enjoying them with a slice or two of (home made white, if possible) cheese and a few olives. 

I purposely said survive because if you think about it, on 40 plus Celsius for weeks, back to basics was more or less a necessity; having an abundance of a first class basics at hand however, was a real blessing.

 

Thessaloniki food market 

(above and below)

As much as I love London I  often  long for more sun and hazy days where you can practically live outside. June, when we left London for our two month journey wasn't particularly promising in that sense as the rain was following us for days; but we wouldn't let ourselves be discouraged. The determination to sit in the sun and eat all'aperto (it's apparently a much more appropriate term for dining outside than al fresco, and here is why: Al fresco, outside or locked up? ) whenever it's even remotely possible was just too strong .

Our road trip started in France, then continued through Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia and Greece - the last two being the places where we spent most of our summer and lived the dream. And more than that; I dare say, we got much more than we bargained for, when our beautiful sunny days started turning into sticky, impossible to breathe, asphalt melting hot days when closing the shutters and drinking enormous amount of ice tea seemed the only sensible thing to do while waiting for the night to come to open the windows and then almost crawl outside holding our chilled, food and drinks in hands.  When the search  for the nearest place to refresh and cool down was completed, we would just sat for as long as possible, without any desire to move, attempting to gather enough energy for another day that would last until the shutters could open again...

Oddly enough, we enjoyed it at first. I suppose that the beaches of Greece and our Serbian house on the hills, away from the city centre helped a bit, but after awhile, the heat started seeping through the walls making every day a little bit less pleasant than the one before.

So, eventually we joined the crowd and our days in the sun became the nights under the Moon.

Just when the situation became almost hopeless we (with two more friends) went to visit my old school friend Ivana in their holiday house in Manastiriste, a picturesque village surrounded by the mounties near by the river Vlasina. 

Now, when I look back, without any hesitation I can tell you that that visit and few consecutive ones after that were the highlight of the summer.  

What I remembered from our school days to be a cosy weekend house, a place for a bunch of high school girls to get ready and be fed before they headed to the river, has grown into a beautiful property with a pool and this (picture above) gorgeous, hacienda looking outdoor resting and dining space.

And our unbearable days in the city at 40 plus C turned once again into the experience we hoped for. From thereon we lived Saturdays in the refreshing water of the pool, surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and lovely people, who all, to make it even better, shared the same passion for food. Our table was full of simply prepared, delicious, locally produced food, just picked up from the fields and everything without any exception home made, including the goat cheese and wine. All'aperto at it's best combined with the very best of what good rapport between a group of people can offer.

Ivana, our host, cooked one of  best home made plain rice I've ever tasted, which was served with charcoal grilled vegetables, a bit of seasoning and a drop of soy sauce. The idea of frying the rice before cooking it, was not novice to me as I often do it when cooking djuvec, pilau, or stuffed peppers.. But I use short grain rice and it simply didn't occur to me that might be a good idea to try it with the long grain as well.  Ivana has got the idea from her Persian friend whom she met while living in Greece.

                

Ivana's Persian Rice

generous knob of butter

1 cup of long grain rice

2 cups of water ( or even better, vegetable stock)

salt

Wash the rice, drain well and fry on medium heat until it become slightly translucent and coated with butter (no more then 5 minutes). Add the water, warm, if possible, pinch of salt and bring to boil. Lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. You don't want it to be fully cooked. Turn the heat off and leave covered for another 10 minutes or so, until the water is fully absorbed. Uncover and separate the grains with the fork. Add more seasoning if you wish.

Serve with grilled vegetables. We used peppers, broccoli, courgettes, onions and carrots, lightly brushed with oil before  grilling  and seasoned after.

The Vlasina River

We have been back to London for sometime now and during August I wondered whether the monsoon climate reached this side of the world. But, when the September kicked in, it hesitantly started shining again and along with that came my desire to go back to the kitchen and do something summery before it's completely gone. The best thing is that this recipe could be  made all year round and not only for nostalgic reasons.  

Salmon and Mushroom Skewer

Makes 4

3 limes
3 tbs olive oil
12 button mushrooms, trimmed
300 - 400g skinless salmon fillets, sliced
8 asparagus tipssalt and pepper

Juice 2 lime halves and pour into a  bowl, then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined, add mushrooms and stir to coat. Cover and set aside 30 minutes to marinade.

Cut the remaining lime in thin wedges. Cut salmon into cubes. Thread mushrooms, salmon and asparagus tips alternately onto 4 skewers.

Press 1 lime wedge onto each end. Brush  with remaining oil and season well.

Preheat dry frying pan or barbecue plate on medium-high. Cook skewers, 5 minutes, turning to cook all sides. Remove to a plate and allow to rest for few minutes.

Make sure that the pan is hot and that you do not over do it and dry the fish.

I,Bilja and Ivana 

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