NADIYA’S TEAR & SHARE

Former Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain with a simple sweet bread to share with friends and family

Caramel soda bread

Soda bread is my go-to on a weekend. There’s no kneading and no proving. Just mix, bake, sit back and wait long enough so it won’t scald your mouth, then eat! Traditionally, it’s made in large loaves, but I’m cooking this in a slab, with oozy caramel in the centre and chocolate inside and on top.

MAKES 12 squares PREP 20 mins COOK 30 mins EASY V

340g plain flour, plus extra for dusting ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

25g caster sugar

100g dark chocolate, chopped

(or chocolate chips)

290ml buttermilk (or 290ml whole milk, with 3 tbsp lemon juice mixed in) 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste 12 chocolate-covered caramels

1 tsp cocoa, for dusting

75g dark chocolate, melted

1 Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Have a baking tray ready dusted with a little flour.

2 Put the flour, bicarb, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and chocolate in a large bowl and mix together. If you don’t have buttermilk, mix the milk and lemon juice and leave for 5 mins to thicken. Mix the vanilla paste into the buttermilk.

3 Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk and vanilla paste, using a palette knife to bring the dough together. 4 Drop the dough into the centre of the prepared baking tray. Using floured hands, flatten it to a square roughly 25 x 25cm.

5 Using a sharp knife, portion into 12 squares, making sure to cut all the way down. Push a chocolate caramel gently down into the centre of each square.

6 Put the tray in the oven for 30 mins.

7 Once the bread is baked, leave it on the tray for 10 mins. Dust with cocoa and drizzle with the melted chocolate.

PER SERVING 238 kcals • fat 8g • saturates 5g • carbs 35g • sugars 11g • fibre 3g • protein 5g • salt 0.39g

Recipe adapted fromNadiya’s Family Favourites (£20, Michael Joseph). Nadiya travels to Thailand and Cambodia in a two-part special, Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey, on BBC One this month Photographs © Chris Terry.