Rachel Allen's White Soda Cheesy Bread

I watched Rachel Allen make Soda Bread, an Irish favourite, this morning and thought it could be a quick alternative to a yeast bread for lunch.
It’s really like a scone, (USA Biscuit) but uses Buttermilk instead of Butter and milk.
About 5-10 minutes to prepare and approx 20 minutes to cook…not bad.

It made a lovely light bread.
Delicious when warm.
I was going to make a salad for lunch, but it was raining and a bit miserable so I accompanied the bread with a quick Mushroom Soup.
Now a couple of hints, I found it needed more buttermilk than the recipe allowed.
Maybe it’s the weather, as I found I needed to add extra iced water to a sweet short pastry I made today as well.
So you need to judge the amount on the day.

Ingredients
3 tbsp Olive oil
450g plain flour
1 very level teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda (Baking Soda)
1 teaspoon Salt
125g Cheddar cheese
400ml Buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7.
Brush a baking tray generously with olive oil.

Sieve the plain flour and the bicarbonate of soda into a big bowl,
Add the salt, 50g of the cheese and mix together with your hands.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in most of the buttermilk.
Spread the fingers of one hand out like a claw and together in a full circle.
Add enough of the remaining buttermilk to make a soft dough.
Do not knead the mix, but work it very gently to bring together.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about 35 x 20cm.
Transfer the rolled dough to an oiled baking tray,
Brush the top with some more oil and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 18-25 minutes, turning the oven down to 200C after 10 minutes.
When cooked the bread should be a golden brown colour and feel firm in the centre.
Transfer it to a wire rack and cool for a couple of minutes, then cut it into squares and serve.

It’s a good crumb light and kept well.

Made wonderful toast the next day.
Just spread butter onto the hot toast.
Wonderful aroma...so cheesy.
Devour