There’s something elemental about baking your own bread. To some people it’s like building your own proton accelerator—sounds complicated and a bit dangerous. Not so! Quickbread is the answer, and from the time you scratch your head and think, “I want fresh bread with dinner” to the time you take it out of the oven can be under an hour. Please don’t scratch your head that whole time though, your mother always said picking at it will just make it worse.
How to begin? Since it’s Saint Paddy’s day, click here to my Irish soda bread recipe. If you don’t have all the ingredients, don’t stress out. You can skip the cardamom and currants if you want, replace the whole wheat with all-purpose, and even make your own buttermilk by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to a cup of milk and letting it sit for a few minutes. But don’t skip the baking soda or cream of tartar or you’ll end up with something the weight and texture of a manhole cover. Trust me, you can do this, you don’t have to be a quantum physicist to make beautiful delicious bread. Now go out and try not to vomit green beer all over yourself.
Writer, architect, father, husband.
And if you don’t have buttermilk or lemon juice, you can also do the same with a teaspoon of vinegar!
Looks good, and I think I’ll have to give it a go. Thanks!
Ah yes, vinegar! Of course, I forgot this but it would work great to help give lift to your soda bread, probably even better than the lemon juice. I have fond memories of making volcanoes as a kid with some vinegar, baking soda, red food coloring, and shrieks from my mother to get that mess out of the living room.
Looks delicious!