St Patrick's Day Recipes: Irish Soda Farl
12 March 2019
This soft, fluffy treat is delicious when piled with butter and jam (try Hampton’s specialist spirit selection for delicious jams and marmalades infused with whiskey).
You can also soak up rich stews with it or eat it alongside a wholesome Ulster fry. Soda farl is exceptionally versatile, so it’s naturally one of the most popular St. Patrick’s Day food ideas - and once you know how easy it is to make, you may be tempted to add it as a household staple.
Here’s B&M’s simple step by step guide to help you make delicious Irish soda bread.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 15 mins
Serves: 4
Category: Breakfast,Bread
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour (and extra for kneading)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 250ml milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
- Combine all the milk and lemon juice in the same container. The solution will thicken and curdle slightly.
- Combine your salt and flour in a mixing bowl.
- Use a sieve to sift the bicarbonate of soda into the same bowl.
- Make a well (a crater of usually 5-7 cm across) in the middle of the mixture of salt, flour and bicarbonate of soda, then pour the milk and lemon juice into it.
- Now it’s time to get messy! Use your hands to get the ingredients mixed together thoroughly. Remember to work quickly so your farls stay really light.
- Spread your kneading surface with a good amount of flour. Take the dough mixture out of the mixing bowl and pop it onto the surface on top of the flour.
- Start heating up your frying pan on the hob to a medium temperature.
- Knead the dough really gently - you don’t want to compact it too much or your bread will be dense and heavy.
- Gently flatten out the dough into a 1cm thick circle.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto the blade of a sharp kitchen knife and cut the circle into even quarters.
- Dust the inside of your pan with some more flour.
- Carefully lift each quarter of your soda bread circle in one at a time, recreating the circle in the base of the pan.
- Cook the farl circle for 6-8 minutes per side. When you turn it over, it’s best to cut it in half and flip each side individually so you don’t accidentally pull it all apart.
Now leave them to cool and they’ll be ready to serve as part of a delicious spread of St. Patrick’s Day food!
B&M Top Tip: take a look at our other St. Patrick’s Day food ideas to see what else you can make to celebrate the big day
B&M
