Its lightness is due to carbonic acid, disengaged from bicarbonate of soda. In the journal " Chemistry and Chemical Analysis" by the Ireland Commissioners of National Education published in 1861 in Dublin the following appeared on page 319:Īlthough it is very desirable that bread should be light, it is not always possible to obtain yeast: - hence, what is called "soda bread" has been of late, very much used. Several books published in the UK in 18 give the standard recipe for soda bread with the note that "it is much eaten in the United States." So how did a bread that the British consider to be popular in America, become identified with the Irish? American flour was 90% of what was used in Belfast, and Dublin's use of American flour reached 80%. In 1908 2/3 of the flour used in Ireland was soft wheat and primarily imported from the US. At the turn of the 20th century while other parts of Britain preferred hard wheat flour and moved away from quick breads, the Irish stuck with soft wheat and the Soda Bread. Hard wheat flour, the main kind we use in the US today, requires yeast for a proper rise while "soft" wheat flour does poorly with yeast, but it great for "quick breads" of which Soda Bread is one. The potato blight that brought the Potato Famine followed that route, but not Soda Bread) (Note: The Irish did not bring the soda bread recipe back to Ireland from America. As noted elsewhere, the earlier recipe found to date in Ireland is from 1836. Not by choice, but by a state of poverty that made it the easiest and least expensive bread to put on the table.
![soda bread recipe soda bread recipe](https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gluten-free-savory-Irish-soda-bread-baked-in-pan.jpg)
However, as the Scots have made the bagpipe their instrument, the Irish have made Soda Bread theirs.
![soda bread recipe soda bread recipe](https://bakerbettie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/irish-soda-bread-recipe-1-480x480.jpg)
Pearl Ash was used prior to 1800 to make flat cakes on hot rocks by combining it with an acidic ingredient in the dough. The earliest reference to using soda ash in baking bread seems to be credited to American Indians using it to leaven their bread.
![soda bread recipe soda bread recipe](https://cookiesandcups.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sodabread-5.jpg)
Just like the bagpipes weren't invented by the Scots, the chemical reaction that makes Soda Bread what it is, wasn't invented by the Irish.