Irish Soda Bread Rolls Recipe With Guinness

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C Fan/gas mark 7/425°F.
• In a large mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients. So that’s; 400g Wholemeal flour. 100g Rolled oats. 2 teaspoons of Bicarbonate of Soda. 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
• In a large jug, mix the mostly wet ingredients. I start with the highest volume first; 300ml of Stout /Guinness or whatever you have available that’s suitable. 150ml Buttermilk/plain yogurt. 4 tablespoons of brown sugar Or use 60ml runny honey.
• Mix really well with the wooden spoon until all combined.
• Now pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and combine well mixing with a wooden spoon or spatula.
• The mixture will look really sloppy at first and quite gooey. It will settle down as the soda starts working and you’ll notice it thickening, still very sticky and gloopy looking.
• At this stage you are ready to put equal amounts onto the prepared trays. Using two spoons, make round-ish heaps of mixture on the trays. Since this isn’t a dough, making each one round is tricky, so I adjust each rounded heap of mixture so they’re as rounded as possible with space in-between them.
• The recipe makes 12 good sized rolls if you’re careful about proportions, or more if you want smaller rolls. I put six on each tray, well spaced apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and put onto a cooling rack if you have one. (A grill rack works just as well so long as it’s very clean.) These taste best eaten straight away while warm, especially with butter on top and maybe a dollop of jam too. These versatile rolls taste delicious with soup and stews too. The Rolls will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container and are delicious toasted or warmed in the oven the following day, if there’s any remaining. Freezing is possible once completely cold and in a freezer bag or container they will store for up to one month. Defrost fully before using. The texture won’t be quite the same as when fresh baked.
• If making a loaf, use a large, well prepared tray with greaseproof paper and oiled. Carefully make a rounded loaf using the spoon to pat into shape and very lightly sprinkle a little more oats on top. A deep sided tray can be used similar to the type for a tray bake, prepare with grease proof paper and a little oil before setting the mixture evenly into the tray, again, the option to sprinkle some oats lightly on top too. When baking a loaf, start the oven higher for the first 10 minutes at 220°C/200°C Fan/gas mark 7/425°F before turning the oven down to 190°C/170°C Fan/gas mark 5/375°F and giving it another 25 minutes.
• This soda bread is gorgeous with sweet or savoury dishes but it can be eaten just as well on it’s own warm with or without butter. I decided to try some tasty Irish recipes in time for St Patrick’s day, but it’s certain I’ll be baking these all year round now that I’ve discovered a liking for soda bread. A tasty breakfast suggestion; warm soda bread rolls with a deep filling of BLT using crispy bacon rashers. A delicious side dish especially good for dipping and a must for a St Patrick’s day feast with a Guinness.