Soda Bread with Cheddar Cheese, Olives and Pickled Roasted Red Peppers, a twist on the classic Irish Soda Bread. The addition of cheddar cheese, olives and red peppers give a subtle pizza flavour, making this classic bread even better, if that was even possible. No yeast, no kneading, amazing homemade bread ready in just about 40 minutes.
To think I didn't even watch the first few series of the Great British Bake Off! There is little surprise why the nation is obsessed with the show, it's absolutely brilliant. Watching the latest episode about baking bread reminded me why l love soda bread so much.
My Paul Hollywood's Soda Bread (No Yeast) has always been a favourite recipe not only of mine, but very popular on the blog too. It's quick, it's delicious, and great when you don't have time to wait around for the dough to prove twice, or, as this year showed us, if there is (yet another) shortage of yeast.
And if you like pizza (who doesn't?!), you will love this twist on the classic soda bread. The basic recipe is still there, but improved with 3 ingredients I love the most: cheddar cheese, black olives and pickled roasted red peppers.
The best of two worlds really, you can't possibly go wrong here! The cheese doesn't make the dough heavy, the bread is still beautifully baked. And heavenly delicious!
HOW TO MAKE CHEESE SODA BREAD
Once we have the ingredients for the basic recipe, we can add pretty much any other ingredient you like. I went for black olives and red peppers, but you can go for anything else you like: salami, chorizo, bacon, smoked cheese, and the list is endless.
- in a large bowl, sift the flours, add the bicarbonate of soda and salt
- chop the pitted olives and pickled roasted red peppers (you can go for raw red peppers too, or just roasted red peppers), and add them to the bowl together with the grated cheese
- mix well to combine
- add the bicarb of soda, and gently mix everything to form a dough
- flour a baking tray, transfer the dough shaped into a ball, then flatten it slightly and use a sharp knife to cut a cross over the top
- dust with flour, and bake in the preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit) for 35 minutes or until golden, and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the bread
- transfer to a cooling rack to cool
EASY SWAPS
Apart from the extra ingredients that can be easily swapped, we can tweak the basic recipe too, as long as the amounts of ingredients stay the same.
If you don't have wholemeal bread, or you are not quite a fan of that, you can use only strong white bread flour, that is absolutely fine. Or, add any other flour you like: rye or spelt flour being amongst the favourite with me.
Seeds are another great addition to this bread, any kind of seeds would do: pumpkin or sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, flax seeds and so on.
As long as the baking time and temperature are the same, there is little room for mistakes here. And you get a fantastic bread that goes down well with little and big tummies too.
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Soda Bread with Cheddar Cheese, Olives and Red Peppers
Ingredients
- 250 g strong white bread flour
- 250 g wholemeal flour ( whole wheat flour)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 400 ml buttermilk
- 1 cup pitted black olives
- ½ cup pickled roasted red peppers (or just roasted peppers, or raw red peppers)
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large bowl, sift the flours, and add the salt and the bicarb of soda.
- Slice the olives and red peppers, and add them to the bowl together with the grated cheese.
- Mix to combine, then pour over the buttermilk, and mix gently to bring the ingredients together into a dough.
- Flour a baking tray, and transfer the dough to the tray, shaping it into a ball.
- Flatten the ball gently, then use a sharp knife to cut a cross on top of the dough.
- Dust with more flour.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit) for 35 minutes or until golden, and it has a hollow sound when the bread is tapped on the bottom.
- Transfer to a cooling rack to cool before slicing it.
Notes
- If you'd like to see the ingredients listed in cups and ounces, please check the US Customary Link.
- Also, the amount of ingredients changes depending on the servings, so click on the number listed to change it to the number you prefer.
Nutrition
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