Soda Bread with Baking Powder

In the last couple of weeks I have made both biscuits and "soda" bread comparing ones made with all purpose flour or half whole wheat, half all-purpose flour. The ones with only all purpose are lighter and fluffier but the ones made with half whole wheat flour have a satisfying chew and great wheaty taste.

A couple of weeks ago I gave my favorite kitchen staple method for biscuits. This is a similarly adapted method for making a sliceable quick bread if you have no buttermilk on hand. My inspiration for this was the chapter on soda bread in Pot on the Fire: Further Exploits of a Renegade Cook by John Thorne. Half of the all purpose flour can be replaced with wheat.

Baking Powder Soda Bread

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup or so milk

Preheat oven to 400°F with covered dutch oven inside.

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. While beating with the handle of a wooden spoon, pour in the milk until you have the dough comes together. It shouldn't be as soft and silky as biscuit dough.

Remove the lid form your preheated pot, dust the bottom with flour, turn your dough into the pan, recover and cook for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Place on rack and serve as soon as it is cool enough to eat. You can also wrap in a towel to keep it soft until serving.

Slice and eat with lots of butter.

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