I needed to make a quick loaf or two to take to a shared lunch with friends and I wanted them to be gluten free so that everyone could tuck in. Soda bread was the obvious answer, but I also wanted a hint of Christmassy flavours. Here’s what I made and they went down a treat.

Makes: two medium sized loaves – about 10 – 12 slices each

Level: Easy

Time: very quick

Need: No special equipment, just a big bowl, a wooden spoon and other basics. No mixer needed, but a pizza stone would be useful. If you don’t have one, then use a baking tray or two. A plastic dough scraper and a cake lifter are also useful, but not essential.

Ingredients

500g plain flour (could be gluten free if required)
1 tsp xanthan gum powder (only if using gluten free flour)
15g caster sugar
12g bicarbonate of soda
8g fine salt
75g dried cranberries (halve them if they’re big)
75g walnuts, broken roughly
125g grated cheddar or any hard cheese of your choice
300ml tub of buttermilk + 50ml in reserve (or use quark or Greek yogurt in reserve)
50g butter, melted

Method

Pre: Turn the oven on to 190°C / fan 170°C / 375°F / Gas 5. Put a pizza stone or baking tray(s) in the oven to heat up. Cut two pieces of parchment, each big enough to accommodate a ball of dough roughly 300cm/12” diameter, plus a border. And, if your butter is hard put it in a bowl and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to melt it.

1. Put the flour, xanthan gum powder (if using), sugar, bicarb-soda and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix. Tip in the cranberries, walnuts and most of the cheese*. Mix them in well. Create a well in the centre. (* reserve a little cheese to go on top later.)

2. Stir in the buttermilk and melted butter plus enough reserved liquid to form a dough. It shouldn’t be wet and sloppy, neither should it be dry or crumbly.

3. Bring it all together in the bowl then tip onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two roughly equal pieces and form into two balls with minimum handling.

4. Place each ball onto the cut parchment. Flatten them a little then cut a deep cross in each one. I had some quark left so I smeared it over the top of each dough ball. This isn’t essential but I think it gives a good finish.

5. Lift or slide the dough balls onto the heated pizza stone or trays. (I use a cake lifter and keep the dough balls still on the parchment.)

6. Bake the loaves for 25 – 30 minutes. Near the end of the baking time, sprinkle the reserved cheese over each loaf. (You can do this earlier, but the cheese tends to go hard and crunchy.)

I wish you every success with your bread making. I hope you have a go at this one and enjoy making and eating it. If you want to see more of my bread recipes click this link.

Here are some quite different breads that you might want to try:

Cheese, Chilli & Garlic Sourdough