This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
This recipe fuses the best of two loaves in just 30 minutes.
In a world deliciously overrun with mix-and-match baked goods—cronuts, brookies, and more—“soda bread” focaccia might just be my new favorite. And if, like me, you love focaccia, want to enjoy it more often, but don’t always have the time and energy to make a leavened bread, then it could well become your hybrid most popular pastry.
Unlike traditional focaccia, this one rises not with yeast, but with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda in English, hence the name “soda bread” for this focaccia). It takes about 10 minutes to assemble, less than 15 minutes to bake, and when brushed with olive oil, it will give you focaccia in a split second.
The idea was inspired by a recipe from a little book that my mother-in-law shared with me from her class at the cookery school in Ballymaloe, Ireland. At the time, I was developing recipes for my upcoming book of easy savory pastries, and this recipe was the very definition of such a pastry.
The dough for soda bread is very lean. By generously spreading a flavored oil, you transform this bread with its soft crumb and crispy topping into a treat for the taste buds.
Below, I explain how — and why — soda bread’s wonderfully short ingredient list is both different and similar to yeast focaccia, and share some techniques for getting the recipe right every time .
Flour
Traditional soda bread requires all-purpose flour, and while you can make soda bread focaccia with just baking soda, we like to add a little bread flour to the mix. Not only is protein-rich bread flour often an ingredient in traditional focaccia, but it also adds structure, chewiness and height to this mixture, giving it a texture and appearance more like that of the focaccia.
Sugar
Don’t worry about adding sugar: it seasons the dough and browns it, but it doesn’t make the bread sweet. Sugar is a surprisingly important ingredient in savory baked goods, especially muffins and tea breads, because it adds moisture, contributes to browning, and helps season the dough.
Leaven
Traditionally, soda bread rises only with baking soda. But adding a little baking powder allows the dough to rise better and gives the crumb a lightness that is more difficult to obtain without kneading.
Buttermilk
Soda bread traditionally uses buttermilk, which provides softness and flavor and helps to leaven the bread by activating the sodium bicarbonate. You can substitute whole milk and 1 ¾ teaspoon distilled white vinegar for the buttermilk.
Flavored oil
Traditional soda bread contains no fat — no eggs, oil or butter — except for the small amount in buttermilk. Therefore, the oil you choose to apply to the dough should not only be used generously, but also be full of flavor. My recipe calls for dried thyme as well as garlic and onion powders, but if you prefer fresh herbs and fresh minced garlic, feel free to use those.
Variations
In addition to playing with the flavors of your oil and sprinkling the bread with sea salt, black pepper, or crushed red pepper flakes before cooking, you can add chopped olives, sliced anchovies, or onions to the bread. caramelized. After cooking, a sprinkle of parmesan will enhance the umami notes.
The technique, step by step
12 servings (for a 9-by-13-inch baking pan)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Soda Bread Focaccia combines two popular breads into one delicious plate. Inspired by a recipe from the Ballymaloe Irish Cooking School, this flavorful, moist and crunchy bread couldn’t be easier, or quicker, to assemble. Sodium bicarbonate and baking powder work in tandem to give this focaccia its depth and texture. Despite the absence of yeast, the end result will look and taste like traditional focaccia in much less time.
Conservation
Store, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to one day, or freeze for up to one month. If freezing leftovers, cut them into individual slices before freezing. Reheat leftover focaccia, wrapped in foil and placed on a baking sheet, in the oven at 300°F, until heated through, about 10 minutes.
Ingredients
• 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil, more as needed
• 5 ml (1 tsp) dried thyme leaves
• 5 ml (1 tsp) garlic powder
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) onion powder
• 250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 190 g (1 ½ cups) bread flour
• 45 ml (3 tbsp.) granulated sugar
• 7.5 ml (1 ½ tsp) sodium bicarbonate
• 5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
• 2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) fine salt
• 400 ml (1 ⅔ cup) well-stirred buttermilk, preferably whole
• Flaked sea salt, for sprinkling
• Freshly ground black pepper, for sprinkling
• Crushed red pepper flakes, for sprinkling
Preparation
1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450°F. Generously brush a 9-by-13-inch pan with oil.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, thyme, and garlic and onion powders until well combined.
3. In a large bowl, mix all-purpose and bread flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and fine salt until combined. Pour in the buttermilk and mix with a flexible spatula until the dough comes together and no dry particles remain — the dough will be sticky.
4. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Dip your fingertips in the flavored oil and use them to gently press and stretch the dough into the bottom of the pan and into the corners. Continue to dimple the entire surface of the dough, dipping your fingers in the oil again if necessary, until the top of the dough is evenly dimpled and generously oiled. Brush or drizzle the bread with the remaining flavored oil and sprinkle evenly with flaked salt, black pepper, or crushed red pepper flakes.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the top is golden and crisp, rotating the loaf back and forth halfway through baking. Remove from oven and use a thin metal spatula to immediately transfer bread to a wire rack. (If the bread cracks a little or crumbles around the edge, that’s OK.) Brush generously with a little more olive oil. Let cool until lukewarm, then serve with olive oil for dipping.
Substitution
Do you prefer fresh thyme leaves? Use 2 tbsp. teaspoon instead of dried leaves.
Nutritional value per serving (3 inch piece)
164 calories, 24 g carbohydrates, 4 mg cholesterol, 6 g fat, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein, 1 g saturated fat, 323 mg sodium, 5 g sugar. This analysis is an estimate based on the ingredients available and this preparation. It should not replace the advice of nutrition specialists.
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