With St Patrick’s Day occurring this month, it seemed logical to make soda bread. Soda bread is typically moist, dense, and a little crumbly. It is a rather low gluten bread (since it typically relies on buttermilk and baking powder instead of yeast), so here the sourdough will play more of a flavoring role than a leavening agent.
I adapted two recipes for this one to make a totally dairy-free version, with no fat or refined sugar. With no buttermilk, the acid needed to react with the baking soda comes entirely from the sourdough starter. I was worried when I put it in the oven because it was a small, fairly hard ball of dough, but it almost tripled in volume in the oven!
A nice balance of sweet and tangy, with bursts of fruit and crunchy nuts – another perfect cup-of-tea bread.
Makes one 860g (about 30oz) loaf
Ingredients
340g (2 1/2 cups) flour
1 tsp baking (bicarb) soda
1/2 tsp salt
120g (1 cup) currants
50g (1/2 cup) roughly chopped walnuts
240g (1 cup) fed 100% hydration starter
120ml (1/2 cup) water
4 tbsp honey
Directions
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and lightly flour a baking sheet.
Whisk the baking soda and salt into the flour, then toss through the currants and walnuts, making sure the currants are coated in flour – this will ensure they stay evenly distributed through the loaf.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the starter, water and honey. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined. Add a dash more water if needed for the dough to come together.
Turn dough out and knead together lightly, pushing back in any currants or nuts that come out.
Form dough into a slightly flattened ball and place on baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut a 1cm (about 1/2″) deep cross in the top.
Bake in centre of oven for about 30 – 35 minutes, until deep golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Cool on a wire rack.
pizzarossa 
Wow that’s got a lovely light texture — I’m very impressed!
Thank you! 🙂
I love soda bread with currants, this one looks delicious!
Thanks Robyn!
Wow, awesome job! Your soda bread looks awesome, and very delicious!
Thanks Jenni!
Tripled in volume?! wow, that’s one creative, peppy loaf. It looks and sounds terrific.
Yup, my starter must really like baking soda! LOL!
Tripled? Wow! Love that you used nuts. Looks great!
The nuts taste great with the currants 🙂 Even teen likes them!
This looks great! And that bead knife is awesome.
Thanks Korena! It’s quite the weapon 😉
The bread looks awesome. Using sourdough starter in place of buttermilk, learn something new everyday.
Thanks Varada 🙂 I was impressed (and surprised!) at how well the starter worked!
Wow! Great job! Next time adding nuts to my bread, they always add a nice flavor:) Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Thanks Lynn 🙂
Perfect photos! Live the fruit – would be a nice afternoon tea addition.
Thanks Christina! It was great with a cup of tea 🙂
Beautiful photos! Your dairy-free and low fat loaf looks great!
Thanks Cathy! 🙂
Yummy! I love that you added nuts.
Thanks Agos! 🙂
Beautiful bread Rachael!
I love the fact that it is dairy free and refined sugar free as well.
I am pinning this recipe to try it soon, I think that using a fed starter and relying on it must add so much to the recipe
Thanks so much Sawsan! 🙂
I Love soda bread! I am so impressed you made this without dairy!