Apr 3rd, 2024

Author: donich_admin

A nice loaf

A lovely soda bread loaf.

250g white plain flour
250g wholemeal plain flour
1tsp bicarb
1tsp salt
rosemary leaves finely chopped
400ml buttermilk (I used fresh milk with a bit of lemon juice in it to curdle it).

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix in the buttermilk to make a softish dough (don’t kneed it as though it were a yeasted bread – treat it like a scone).
Shape into a round and put on a baking tray. Cut a deep cross in the middle (to let the fairies out). Bake at 200 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Costs – 60p for flour, 70p milk other ingredients negligible or free (rosemary from garden). Electricity free from solar. £1.30 total.

A basic white loaf from the supermarket is 45p, bland and full of additives.

But it puts in perspective how much rubbish is talked about how “the poor” can save money by cooking for themselves. Yes – it is possible to make excellent food for very little money, but it requires equipment, space for storage and the relevant skills. My loaf was empirically better and tastier than the ASDA one, but it was nearly three times as expensive, plus people living in bedsits in the inner cities don’t usually have rosemary bushes or solar panels.

Anyway, the loaf was excellent with some home made chowder.