My class are doing a project in school for food tech (cooking) on bread making. we all had to find recipes for bread and we are making them this Friday. I am making soda bread. I have already done all the course work for it and in the recipe it say use buttermilk.
I am wondering whether i can use ordinary full cream milk?
(Our local) Tescos usually has buttermilk in stock.
If you can't find/don't want to use buttermilk, a recipe I've used with some success has 200ml ordinary milk mixed with 1 tsp cream of tartar - you could increase/decrease the amount of cream of tartar according to the amount of milk in your recipe.
Here's mine:
200g strong wholemeal flour
275g plain white flour
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
30g soft light brown sugar (though I've used granulated brown sugar with no problem)
1/2 teaspoon salt
200ml milk (Ive used semi and whole, and a mixture of both, with very little difference in outcome)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g melted butter
1 egg beaten
Grease/butter a baking sheet/tray, and pre-heat the oven to 220oC, gas 7.
Mix the milk and cream of tartar in a jug.
With a wooden spoon, mix the flours, bicarb of soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Then add the melted butter and egg. Then gradually mix in the milk/cream of tartar to make a "soft dough" - code for squidgy lump.
Lightly flour a work surface, tip the dough onto it, and knead it briefly (no more than 5 mins, really) and pat it into a 20cm/8" circle. Then put it on the baking sheet, cut a deep cross in it (cut almost to the base), sprinkle a little flour on top, and put it in the oven.
The original recipe said to bake for 25 to 30 mins, which I found to be optimistic, but it may depend on your oven. I'd have a look at it after 30 mins. The outside will be done, but the inside may not, and the only way I know of being sure is to cut the loaf in half. If it's still doughy in the middle, separate the two halves a little on the sheet and put it back in for another 10/15 mins.
I had one loaf that took an hour!
Good luck.
