Bacon, Mozz and Onion Soda Bread

Soda bread now has its own folder in my "Baking" bookmarks. I love the stuff and fortunately, my family does, too. Otherwise I'd be forced, utterly forced, to eat it all myself. Despite the fact that yesterday was one of the hottest, stuffiest days in recent weeks, I had made a very tasty chicken soup using the bones from last week's Cornish hens and some carrots, onions and daikon from a Farm to Car order. And, what goes great with soup? Yup.


The original recipe called for bacon, cheddar and chives. I have cheddar but I also have a lot of mozzarella that I wanted to use. I didn't have chives but I did have a lot of onion. Seeing a trend here? I did have bacon though...Here's the cast.


I added lemon juice to regular milk to curdle it into buttermilk substitute.


Dry ingredients were put into a bowl.


The cheese, bacon and onion were added.


By the time the dry ingredients were combined with the filling ingredients, the "buttermilk" was ready. It's that quick!


I didn't add all of the buttermilk initially and I'm glad I didn't; the dough was pretty moist and sticky.


The recipe said to knead for two minutes on a floured surface...


But since the dough was so sticky, it was more of a flip back and forth with the scraper kind of thing.


I used a sharp knife to make cuts 2/3 of the way into the dough. It's dense stuff.


I used my fingers to pull the cuts open a bit.


The bread went in at 400 for about 40 minutes. I checked it at 30 but it was still uncooked. At 35 it was done but I wanted a little more brown on it.


It was a great soda bread! Full of yummy things with a texture that managed to be on the airy side despite all that. The guys enjoyed it and suffice to say, one loaf is not enough if I want leftovers...


Here's the promised link:

 Bacon, Cheddar and Chive Soda Bread

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