Soda Bread, flour substitute? (2024)

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Soda Bread, flour substitute?

I would love to finally get my hands on Wholemeal flour for Soda Bread but it's almost impossible to get here in Canada. There is a British shop near where we live (Montreal) and they have one they import that is Wholemeal but it's a mix and I'd rather just have the flour on its own so I can do the mix myself. So what I'm trying to figure out is what people who bake in Ireland would say was a completely acceptable substitute for Wholemeal flour. Maybe there isn't anything, maybe you really only get that flavour and texture from Wholemeal. I've tried what is called Whole Wheat here in Canada and it simply isn't the same.

Thank you for any help!

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tpassin

Jan 10 2024 - 4:46am

King Arthur sells a whole

King Arthur sells a whole wheat flour exactly for this purpose, though I don't know if they can ship it to you in Canada, I have a bag, and it definitely feels and looks different from either the ordinary stone-ground whole wheat I can usually get, or roller-milled "whole wheat" flour. It's called "Irish-style" flour. Here is what they say about it (seehttps://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/03/07/irish-soda-bread-irish-style-flour)

Our Irish-style flour, also known as Irish wholemeal, is a US-grown, bran-flecked, soft whole wheat flour, perfect for traditional Irish baked goods (and much, much more). Similar towhole wheat pastry flour, Irish wholemeal contains all of the bran, endosperm, and germ of the wheat berry. But it’s more coarsely ground, with large flecks of bran that bring texture, beauty, and flavor to everything it touches.

It is much like a bag of graham flour I recently got.

OTOH, I've looked up a number of soda bread recipes on line, and none of the ones by Irish writers talk about using any special flour. Here's an example: https://sodabread.info/menu

tpassin

Jan 10 2024 - 9:15am

Or you can add a non-gluten

Or you can add a non-gluten flour to dilute the gluten.

Abe

Jan 10 2024 - 1:08pm

Good Idea!

Wholegrain interferes with gluten formation too and if handled correctly for a soda bread, not too much kneading, one should be able to get away with it.

tpassin

Jan 10 2024 - 1:22pm

Emmer Biscuits

I've made biscuits (US: biscuits; UK: scones) using stone-ground emmer flour with the bran sifted out. They worked quite well and tasted excellent. I've also made some mini-biscuits using 20% sifted emmer flour with the balance being Anna type 00 flour, and they were outstanding.

Abe

Jan 10 2024 - 2:49pm

I can imagine Emmer

Being perfect for Biscuits/Scones and therefore also Soda Bread. And would bring great flavour too.

P.s. while biscuits and scones are similar I believe biscuits to be savoury (or at least to go with savoury dishes), while scones are sweet. Can't beat a toasted scone with strawberry jam and a coffee, imo. However for a truly authentic scone experience it should be clotted cream and strawberry jam. And you can start a war when it comes to the differing opinion of what goes on the scone first. But for me it's just jam.

tpassin

Jan 10 2024 - 3:13pm

I'm not sure about that

I'm not sure about that savory vs sweet thing here in the US. I think it varies a great deal across the country. For myself, I do like savory better (like ham and cheese, for instance) but that's just me. I've got a little jar of imported clotted cream right now, waiting for me to make some biscuits for it.

albacore

Jan 12 2024 - 12:56pm

Cheese

What about cheese scones, Abe?

And of course the other potential war is whether the "o" in scone is long or short.....

Lance

tpassin

Jan 10 2024 - 1:34pm

The thing to remember about soda bread

The thing to remember about soda bread is that it was developed as a way for people who didn't have access to "good" - i.e., higher-gluten - wheat flour to make relatively airy bread. It became especially important during the Irish potato famine. A poor farmer used any wheat that could be gotten, mostly poor-quality whole wheat since that was the cheapest and probably the only kind available to most. If someone had a bit of extra money, they might try for white flour - still low quality. With a bit more money, and only for special occasions, they might throw in some currants as a treat.

When better flour became available and more affordable most people switched to using it for yeasted breads, except in Ireland where they tended to stay with soda breads.

So there really isn't one "authentic" flour for soda breads. It's whatever was available at a low enough price that very poor people could afford to live on it.

alcophile

Jan 10 2024 - 3:44pm

Einkorn or soft wheat flakes

I have added whole einkorn flour or soft wheat flakes to regular whole wheat flour in wholemeal soda breads. I especially like the soft wheat flakes because they added some texture to the final loaf.

Moe C

Feb 13 2024 - 6:08pm

I came across this today

I came across this today while reading old threads. Thought it might be useful.

"I avoid baking with Red Fife wheat. It is strong and incredibly flavorful, OK, but finicky, has low mixing tolerance... if you overmix it even a tiny bit,the dough disintegrates in front of your eyes. If you under-mix it, it gives tough bread. So I prefer to use it in soda breads!"

That was posted by Mariana. Underline of "incredibly flavorful" was mine. She lives in Canada, but I don't know if her source for Red Fife is Canadian. Arva Flour Mills, near London, Ontario, has recently started milling it. Anyway, if it sounds promising, you could send Mariana a message about it & her recipe. BTW, she is an astoundingly knowledgeable baker (that's why I was reading old threads).

Soda Bread, flour substitute? (2024)

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Soda Bread, flour substitute?