January 10, 2024 - 12:35am
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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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 (see https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/03/07/irish-soda-bread-irish-style-flour)
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
You should do some serious checking about them, but there are freight forwarding services that can receive goods you order from US companies and send them on to Canada addresses. Here's one I found -
https://scc41.org/king-arthur-flour-ship-to-canada/
Please note that I am NOT recommending this since I have no experience. But it might be a way to get US products in Canada.
Montreal is quite close to the US border, so he/she could pop over and save shipping charges. What reasonably nearby US town there is that would carry KA Irish-style flour is another matter.
As Tom (who is sooo helpful) suggested, you could try KA Irish style flour. It's not listed on Amazon.ca, but Odlums Wholemeal is. It's produced in Ireland. It is expensive here, like everything else.
I did read online that wholemeal flour in the UK might contain other grains, but both KA and Odlums are 100% wheat, so I don't know what the secret to authentic soda bread is.
You could always try adding other grains, like cornmeal or oatmeal, but you'd just be guessing.
Good luck.
Soda bread is the technique to make bread out of weak flours. So any weak wholegrain wheat flour will do.
Or you can add a non-gluten flour to dilute the gluten.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What about cheese scones, Abe?
And of course the other potential war is whether the "o" in scone is long or short.....
Lance
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.
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.
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).