IF YOU have ever visited Ireland you will have had soda bread with your breakfast, or maybe with a bowl of soup or chowder for lunch.

It is increasingly popular in Wales and a regular best seller for me in the market and the delis I supply.

Soda bread comes in both white and brown forms, the recipe here is for white.

This Irish bread does not use yeast to rise, rather it relies on the chemical reaction between baking soda (bi-carbonate of soda) and buttermilk to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide to do this job.

Buttermilk is available in most supermarkets, though in the UK, It tends to be more like yoghurt than the pure liquid form found in Ireland.

If you buy a tub make it up to the full amount by adding skimmed milk or add the juice of half a lemon to Skimmed Milk and leave it for 15 minutes to get the curdle.

1lb Plain Flour

1 level tsp Halen Mon Seasalt (try some of their flavoured ones too)

1 level tsp bread soda

12 floz Buttermilk

Combine all the dry ingredients in a wide bowl, sifting the soda to avoid any lumps.

Add the buttermilk and bring together into a loose dough. DO NOT OVERKNEAD this bread needs to be dealt with gently, just pull it together.

Turn onto a floured surface and shape roughly into a circle. You can also divide it in two and make two smaller loaves.

Flip them over onto a baking tray and with a sharp knife cut a deep cross into the breads. This helps the rise and gives Soda Bread its distinctive shape.

Place into a pre-heated oven at 220c for 10 minutes then turn down to 180 for another 25 minutes.

Turn onto a cooling rack.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE OVEN UP TO TEMPERATURE BEFORE ADDING THE BUTTERMILK AS THE RISE STARTS AS SOON AS ACID BUTTERMILK MEETS ALKALINE SODA.

Variations:

Try adding a few Sultanas to the mix to make the wonderfully named Spotty Dog, or some Chocolate Chips for Stripy Cat – the chocolate melts and runs giving the stripes.