BAKING SODA BREAD

COUNTY GALWAY, IRELAND • ASHFORDCASTLE.COM/EXPERIENCES/TASTE-OF-WEST-IRELAND WITH JUST A HANDFUL OF INGREDIENTS AND NO YEAST, TRADITIONAL IRISH SODA BREAD IS SIMPLE TO MAKE, ESPECIALLY WITH EXPERT INSTRUCTION

Baking and I tend not to get on. The process doesn’t fit well with my impatience, nor with my desire to taste my cooking as I go along. Bakers need to measure ingredients, and to keep the oven door shut. But perhaps soda bread, in its wonderful simplicity, is my gateway to the joys of baking. There’s less chemistry involved, less kneading required and, in this case, there’s the serene setting of Ireland’s west coast as an added incentive.

“I’m not a baker,” I tell Orla, my instructor for the day, on arrival at her home, a 200-yearold former church in County Galway.

She reassures me that I don’t have to be, explaining it’ll take just five minutes to throw the ingredients together before the loaf goes in the oven for 40 minutes.

Orla and her husband Chris bought

Bookeen Hall, 20 minutes outside Galway city, back in 2005. It’s now a stylish one-bedroom house, where the couple host Airbnb guests and offer baking lessons to guests of the nearby Ashford Castle hotel, where I’m staying.

There are just seven ingredients in

Orla’s recipe: brown flour, white flour, salt, sugar, bread soda, baking powder and buttermilk. That’s it. No sourdough starter or temperamental yeast in sight. Orla coaches me through the steps, but there’s not much to it. Dry ingredients are combined first, before the buttermilk is added. The one risky aspect is the bread soda. Too much and the loaf will taste fizzy or turn green. I level the teaspoon as I’m told; I can handle this one strict rule.

I take the dough in my hands. It clings to my skin, but I tame it into a smoother, more pleasing-looking lump before cutting a deep cross into it.

“Apparently, the cross is to let the fairies out so they don’t ruin your bread,”

Orla says, raising her eyebrows. “The scientific reason behind it is so that the bread doesn’t crack. You’re controlling the cracking.”

As I put my loaf in the oven, Orla reels off the benefits of this Irish classic, including that it’s cheap to make, as it uses neither eggs nor butter and is quick to throw together. Plus, of course, “it makes your house smell amazing.” All winning qualities in my book.

Soon, my creation is ready to come out. It’s held together by a hard outer crust, while the interior is crumbly and dry, as it should be. It can be sliced and slathered in butter, but is brittle enough to tear apart. The simple process is echoed in the end result: it’s no complex sourdough, but it’s just right.

Ashford Castle’s private ‘Taste of the West of Ireland’ tours cost from €2,500 (£2,280) for two people, including three gastronomic experiences, lunch and transfers. B&B doubles from €585 (£530). Booking subject to government restrictions. Josephine Price