Let me get one thing straight – I do not take soda bread lightly. 

I grew up eating the fluffy, golden loaves; anything other than tried-and-tested, buttermilk-mandatory recipes makes my eyebrows hit the ceiling. 

Still, if there’s one celeb chef I’ll trust for the task, it’s Mary Berry. After all, I’ve already tried (and loved) her tomato soup, spaghetti bolognese, and lemon curd recipes. 

So, I thought I’d give her Mediterranean “twist” on the classic Irish dish a look. And as it turns out, one of her secrets for a perfect loaf is one I’ve sworn by for years.

Mary mixes soda bread like scones

In her cookbook Foolproof Cooking, the former Great British Bake-Off judge points out that how we mix the dough is crucial for the crunchy, golden crust and springy, fluffy centre. 

Mary – who adds olives, sundried tomatoes, and chives to her soda bread – starts off by preheating her oven to 200°C. 

Then, she mixes flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, buttermilk, regular milk, and her sundried tomatoes, olives, and “snipped” chives together in one bowl. 

She advises against mixing the milks together before adding them to the rest of the dough for a more tender crumb. 

Once all the ingredients are combined, Mary adds, “Don’t mix the dough too much as this will make it tough.” 

“Just bring it together and shape, treating it like a scone mixture rather than a bread dough,” she continued. 

It’s a rule I’ve followed all my life: you just can’t achieve a fluffy middle and crisp crust without it.

Why shouldn’t you overmix soda bread dough?

Anyone who’s given themselves an aching bicep by kneading bread at home will know how important the process is for building gluten strands. 

In baking, gluten acts a bit like the skin of a balloon; it’s stretchy and captures air, giving the bouncy, hole-filled texture sourdough lovers adore.  

But soda bread is more of a tender, cake-like bread than a springy, resilient slice.

Additionally, you’re not rebuilding the air in soda bread dough with yeast after mixing it (as happens when you prove normal bread) ― you’ll just give it the chewiness without adding the “air” for those “balloons”, resulting in a tough loaf. 

So, while I’m going to side-eye the sundried tomato and olive addition for now, Mary’s definitely right about the basics of the bread.