A soda bread is a variety of quick bread made of flour, baking soda, water, salt, eggs, buttermilk, and honey.

The baking soda reacting with the lactic acid in buttermilk makes the bread rise faster.

During the early years of the colonization of the Americas, the settlers used sodium or pearl ash (potassium carbonate), as a leavening agent in quick breads. In his book American Cookery, published in 1796 in the United States, Amelia Simmons describes soda breads as a quick and inexpensive method of making bread.

In Europe, breads using baking soda began to appear in the mid-XIXth century, when it became available as a leavening agent. Breads, patties, baking soda scones, as well as cream of tartar or tartaric acid have become popular in Austria, Britain, Ireland, and Poland. Traditional soda bread, consumed in Serbian cuisine, also uses baking soda, especially the traditional one. česnica, a soda bread made at Christmas.

Difficulty level : easy

Prep time : 25 min

Rest time : –

Cook time : 35 min

Total time :  1 hours

Yield :  6 servings

2 cups whole wheat flour

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp fine salt

1 egg

1.5 cups buttermilk

1 tbsp honey

Steps :

• In a bowl, mix the two flours and add the baking soda and salt.
• In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg and honey.
• Once the mixture of buttermilk-egg and honey well mixed, add to the flour mixture and mix well with the wooden spoon.
• Pour the mixture into a cake mold or round pan by incisions on the surface.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F.
• Bake during 40 at 45 min, making sure the surface does not burn.
• Get out of the oven. Unmold and wrap the bread in a clean cloth to let it cool so that the crust remains crisp.
• Serve and enjoy.