Mix and bake the bread

1. Heat the oven to 425° F. Place a clean 10” cast iron pan in the oven. If you have not a cast iron pan use a sheet pan. The sheet pan can remain out until the bread is placed on it.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl large enough to hold the final dough.

   Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour in the buttermilk.

3. You can use your hands to mix the bread together or the back end of a wooden spoon. I’m not opposed to doughy hands when necessary but will avoid them when it possible. Here, it is possible.

4. When the flour has absorbed the buttermilk and it’s too hard to stir with the wooden spoon, scrape the edges of the bowl with a rubber bowl scraper, reaching to the bottom of the bowl and effectively kneading the dough in the bowl a dozen times or so.

5. Remove the cast iron pan from the oven and place the bread in the center of the hot pan. Or, place the bread on a baking paper or Silpat lined baking tray. Press the dough flat to make a thick disk.

6. Carefully slice rather pronounced + across the top.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the thump test sounds hollow or the bread reaches 180° F internal. Remove the bread and allow it to rest 5 minutes before eating.

8. Modern soda bread presentations may include egg or milk washing the surface of the bread and sprinkling it with demerara or sanding sugar before baking.

9. *Classically a soft wheat flour such as cake flour would be used for soda bread. All-purpose is close to that and is most likely the flour nearly everyone has.