It is not that frequent that someone takes the effort of baking a bread in India, we fast-moving, modern Indians generally resort to market-bought breads to fill our easy to prepare breakfast quotas. Indians do have their fair share of breads which are made on a daily basis in our kitchens like our beloved Roti or Bhakhri. Unlike the breads of the West, Indian breads are baked on a tawa or griddle for a couple of minutes and are comparatively easier to prepare. The breads of the West are famous as yeast based or a wild yeast culture based which is more technical and difficult to bake. Bread making is an art, you have to be very neat and disciplined while measuring ingredients for baking a bread and kneading the bread dough is a whole different ball game. You might have to go through a couple of trials (may be more) to make a perfect bread.
But do you know there is an easy to bake, no-knead bread which surprisingly does not involve yeast and proofing of the dough. The Irish Soda Bread is probably the easiest bread you will ever bake. With only a few ingredients at play and almost no struggle to knead it, it serves as the best bread for people who want to start bread baking. This bread is baked using baking soda which reacts with an acidic component (buttermilk in this case) which helps the bread to get its texture and rise. The time involved in preparing the dough and baking it is very less compared to other yeast-based breads. The citrus that I have used is Kaji Lemon, a highly aromatic variety of lemon found in the North-Eastern region of India, mostly Assam, it can be substituted with any other variety of lemon or orange. The bread is crusty like a hard cake and is studded with sultanas which can be substituted for raisins. Perfect for making Crostinis and Canapes, you can also smother a dollop of butter or salted caramel sauce on a slice and have it along with your tea or coffee. Go ahead and show off your baking skills to your family and friends with this easy to make bread.
Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour - 3 cups
Cold Milk - 1.25 cups
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1.5 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1/4th cup
Sultanas - 1/4th cup (chopped)
Zest of 1 lemon
Method:
1. Mix lemon juice with cold milk and let sit for 15 mins to get instant homemade butter milk. Add the lemon zest too.
2. Pre-heat oven at 200 degrees C and line a baking tin with parchment paper sprinkled with some flour.
3. Sift and mix flour with baking soda, salt and sugar. You can reduce the quantity of sugar to 2 tbsp in case you are worried about your sugar intake.
4. Coat the chopped sultanas in a tsp of flour to keep it from sinking to the bottom, add to the flour mix. Pro-tip : You should do it with all the dry fruits in any batter or dough you make to help the nuts and fruits from sinking to the bottom.
5. Add the buttermilk to the flour mix and knead till it comes together (not more than a couple of minutes), the dough is going to be really loose and messy. Sprinkle some flour on your palms and try to shape the loose dough into a ball. With floured hands transfer the dough to your lined baking tin. In case the dough loses its shape go ahead and shape it again with floured hands.
6. With the help of sharpest knife or blade score your bread (make a cross sign on top) to help it bake evenly from inside and bake it for 40 mins or till done at 200 degrees C. Cut it with the help of a bread knife when completely cooled.
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