Lately I have been really enjoying my weekend dose of cooking & baking (the Real Housewives of the Black Country coming to your screen soon!). I have posted this recipe originally about two years ago now but thought – you know what, I bake this bloody bread at least once a month so might as well brush off this old recipe & repost it for you to enjoy (with a touch more experience of a seasoned baker – yeah, right – me). Here it is – my ridiculously delicious (yes I’ve said it!) soda bread with pesto & olives.
Originally I found the recipe in my favourite cookbook – it’s called Step-by-Step Cook’s Encyclopedia (bought in it Asda for a fiver almost a year ago – now I can only find it on Amazon here for £23). If you’re a beginner then I can’t recommend this book enough – the recipes in it are fairly simple (you don’t have to go out and buy 5234534 ingredients you otherwise wouldn’t need), they show you every single step in a photograph and although it’s not specifically called a budget recipe book, it’s definitely at least pocket friendly. And don’t forget to check out my other bread recipes here.
Soda bread with pesto & olives
Especially delicious with homemade butter & a pinch of salt!
Ingredients
- 250 g plain flour
- 250 g strong bread flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp pesto of choice
- 300 ml buttermilk
- 55 g pitted olives
- 1 dash olive oil
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
Mix flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
Mix pesto and buttermilk together and add into the flour mix together with olives. Add water if needed (must be lukewarm, not cold).
Shape the dough into a ball and then squash it into a super thick pancake. Make a deep cross cut with a knife across the loaf. Brush with milk & bake in a preheated oven (200ºC) on a baking paper greased with olive oil for 30 minutes.
