Soda Bread

soda bread any bread raised with bicarbonate of soda and an acid, often supplied by soured milk or buttermilk. Unlike yeast-raised breads, it is quickly made, and does not require strong flour.

The bread has been a particular speciality of Ireland since the late 19th century. In Ireland the use of bicarbonate of soda or bread soda in bread-making was commonplace by the 1840s and certainly by the second half of the 19th century soda bread had become an established feature of the Irish diet. Its popularity can in part be attributed to the fact that rural Ireland did not have a strong tradition of yeast bread manufacture. Until the late 19th century bread-making was considered an entirely domestic procedure and executed with a limited range of utensils; the pot oven or ‘bastible’ and the flat iron griddle. These utensils were ideally suited to soda bread preparation and the soda itself provided a convenient, storable, and predictable leaven regardless of the strength or weakness of the flour. In comparison to the more traditional oaten bread, soda bread was easily prepared and decidedly more palatable especially with hot melting country butter.