Gluten-Free Soda Bread

Not Exactly Irish Soda Bread.


But close! 

From the archives- but seems an appropriate recipe to share now.

By the time I attended art school and launched into life on my own I had moved ten times and attended nine different schools in four different states. (And since then, nine states). Not unusual, I imagine, for many Americans. And for those of us with immigrant and nomadic ancestry (my people on both sides have crossed continents and oceans searching for safety and opportunity) it simply feels natural to do so, to gather up and move in sync with the wheel of the seasons, aligned with winged migrations and the fickle fate of turning stars.

I have always kept a nomadic heart, even when it wasn’t easy. Even when I let her out only in my deepest dreams, inside a brushstroke, or as I stirred a makeshift dough with one of my young sons, improvising ingredients on a budget so small every dollar bill mattered.

Today I made a version of my favorite pre-celiac soda bread, savoring yet another eclectic improvisation that was grainy, tender and without pretense.

Karina’s Soda Bread Recipe

This simple rustic bread uses one of my favorite gluten-free baking mixes- Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking and Pancake Mix. If you have a different favorite gluten-free baking and/or pancake mix with leavening, feel free to use it instead.

Dry ingredients:

2/3 cup Pamela’s Gluten-Free Baking Mix – or other self-rising GF baking mix

1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornmeal- or almond meal if you avoid corn

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup buttermilk or plain non-dairy milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice added

2 large free-range organic eggs- room temperature- or Ener-G Egg Replacer 

4 tablespoons light olive oil

Stir In:

1 rounded teaspoon caraway or anise seeds, to taste

1/2 cup golden raisins, dried cherries, dates, or currants

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a 7 or 8-inch cake pan and dust it with cornmeal (or almond meal).

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly pour the wet into the dry ingredients, gently mixing as you go [I use a soft silicone or rubber spatula]. When the dough is evenly moist, add the caraway and raisins. Stir only briefly to mix them in.

Scrape and spoon out the dough into the prepared cake pan; and using moist palms, flatten and shape the dough into a round loaf. Sprinkle with a very light dusting of cornmeal or gluten-free flour.

Place the pan into the center of a preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the loaf is golden and crusty. Insert a wooden toothpick into the center if you like, to test for doneness. It should feel firm and “thump” as if it is hollow when you tap it.

Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes; and turn the loaf out of the pan to cool to room temperature – although it’s best warm and tender from the oven, I think, even if it crumbles a bit.

Serves 8.

Soda breads are definitely best eaten the day they are baked. Slice and freeze leftovers for grilling in butter or use leftovers to make a bread pudding.

For a more traditional Irish Soda Bread try this dairy-free soda bread recipe.

Using the egg replacer will usually create a denser, drier loaf.