2 Sino-Hibernian Breads for St. Patrick’s Day
I’m a day early, I know. And possibly two days early depending on time zones. However, today was the last free day I have for the next seven days (oh, damn this freelancing- I work more than usual, in such weirder ways) so I decided to go all out in my potato and soda infused frenzy.
I used to live in Ireland. That was a very long time ago in a previous existence. I lived for a while on a sofa kindly donated to me by a fine Kiwi woman back in the mid ’90s (thank you, Kaye).
I spent days wandering around Galway, drinking tea in the Roisin Dubh when I really ought to have been drinking more Guinness (oh, so young!), wandering out along the promenade to Salthill, past the spiral stones, kicking the wall at the end and then turning around and walking back again. I was a music groupie who had no idea that I ought to have been sleeping with the band instead of inviting them out for tea (I’m the most promiscuous of the tea-groupies, I’m sure). I bootlegged dozens of concerts with my recording studio that I kept in my hat. ย I hitchhiked out into the Burren, out into Connemara, down to the steep cliffs of Moher, peering over the rim then stepping back again, sleeping in chilly, empty dorms, sipping mugs of strong tea, coughing from chronic lung crap. Ireland hated my lungs.
That was yonks ago.
It’s been nearly 18 years since I first buggered off. I was 19, horrifically unaware, stunningly naive. I’d just spent a month in Germany with a high school penpal, drinking dark beers in odd, sawdust-floored East German bars with tired Russians, evading fares on the Dresden transit system, putting one tentative foot across the then closed Czech border. Then I turned 20 and went to Ireland, via Amsterdam (where I crashed on the floor of a schoolmate of my German friend who lived in a hippie commune on Singel Gracht) and France (where I teamed up with a 28 year old woman from Edmonton who chastised me for not climbing the Eiffel ย tower as I’d never get that chance again— Note: I went back to Paris a dozen times after that). ย Somehow I ended up in Dublin, crashing on the sofa of Liam O’Maonlai of the Hothouse Flowers for a week, being casually introduced to the Edge (of U2), and spending my days somewhere down in Dun Laoghaire, looking up at James Joyce’s tower, thinking I was rather profound.
That passed.
I’m in Shanghai now, nearly 20 years later, and I’m trying to fathom how any of this was ever my life. I’m trying to remember being ย barely 20, absurdly naive, traipsing around Galway, forcing my way into clubs, ย insinuating myself into the lives of musicians who were probably left wondering why this weird foreign kid was always around.
So, yeah, Ireland. We have history. Far more than I can begin to delve into here.
Let’s make some bread instead, shall we?
What I have today are two breads, one for the toaster oven, one for the wok. One is full of spud, the other is soda. Both adhere ย to the stereotypes. ย Both bring back memories, both turned out well.
First of all, we have the potato farls– or potato cakes. These are cosy. Very cosy.
The woman whose recipe I found is adorable. Her way of writing out a recipe is fluid, spontaneous and sweet. I want to quote her verbatim.
Let’s start with the potato farl, which is basically a griddle cake made with leftover mashed potatoes.
This is what she said:
Knead the mash until it becomes like a soft dough.
Use about a third of it’s volume in plain flour.
Knead again to combine. It will become easier as the flour is incorporated.
Roll out into a circle about 1.5cms thick and place in the hot griddle pan .
Cut a deep cross in it to divide in four.
Bake for three or four minutes
Flip over to do the other side.
Remove to a cooling rack and watch them disappear. Lovely fried later too with eggs and bacon
Potato Farls
Am mashing my spuds. About a tablespoon of butter.
And then about 1/2 cup of yogurt, thinned with water to fake buttermilk.
Adding 2 x 1/3 cup flour for dry ingredients.
Knead very lightly and flatten into a cake. Mark an x for the fairies.
I fried mine in a bit of my roasted garlic oil.
About 4 minutes on each side on low.
Wheaten Bread
And the other bread, a soda bread for the toaster oven.
8ozs/225gms Wholemeal Flour (I used about 2 cups total for all flour)
4 ozs/100gms Plain Flour
Approx. 15 fl. ozs/400mls Butter Milk (I used thinned yogurt)
1oz/25gms Butter
1 teasp Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda
1 teasp sugar or honey
1 teasp. saltGreased and floured round sandwich tin
Oven temp 350F 180.C Gas 4
In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
Cut the butter into small pieces and rub through.
Add enough buttermilk to form a soft but easily handled dough. It should not be runny.
Knead lightly and quickly into a round and place in prepared tin.
(It is essential you use light hands)
Cut a deep cross in the bread. (To let the fairies out)
Sprinkle with oats if desired
Bake for approx 40 Minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
I have to say, I appreciate the fact that there is a provision for letting the fairies out.
My initial gram to cup conversion had been terribly wrong- my online source adamantly insisted that 325g was 1 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons. It wasn’t. Far too wet. I checked again when I saw how impossibly moist it was and realized cups were not the same size worldwide.
325g is 2 North American cups, for the record.
16 Comments
Selly
Oh. Oh. Oh. Fresh soda bread. Heaven. I want some. I’m stealing that loaf and I’m running off with it. So yummy. And the potato pancake, as I call it, too!!! Yum, I haven’t had both in a while which is a real pity. Must rectify this immediately!!
MaryAnne
It turned out VERY well. It’s delicious! I hadn’t had soda bread in years. I’d forgotten how lovely it is with butter and jam. Yum.
Martin
A nice combination of personal history and … um… a rather quick’n floury recipe post. ๐
To be honest, I’d rather go for the griddle cakes because I love almost all fried things made from spud. Hate to say it, but that’s actually one of the typical German habits I’m not able to avoid. And due to such teutonic genetic patterns I’d maybe also use a tiny bit of onion for the potato dough…? Yet, of course, I’ve absolutely no idea if that would be kind of unfitting for a St. Patrick’s day recipe… However, I’m not so sure about the soda bread. That’s probably just because it’s usually me who makes the bread here at home, and I actually have an undeniable tendency to yeast. Anyway, the baked result of your soda bread looks pretty good, better than the raw version would have suggested. Hope it also tasted good?
PS: It’s somehow reassuring for me that even people from west of Europe sometimes get in trouble with this irritating mixture of volumes instead of weights. 352 grams are 2 (North American) cups of wheat? Really? And if I try it with coarse flour it’s already different? …Hm… That’s probably why I’ll never get the hang of the cups thing. ๐
PPS: Keep strong during the comming busy days, and don’t let all those Wangs exhaust you too much (or is this rather a week for a horde of Lees?).
MaryAnne
The soda bread was really lovely- even if you are a hard core yeast bread fan, it’s worth trying. It’s denser, moister, slightly cake’ier than a yeast bread but it goes beautifully with butter and jam or cheese and a cup of tea. Real comfort food.
And cups/grams/ml? Argh! Every country is totally different! My rice cooker one-cup measure (Chinese) is much smaller than my Canadian one…
PS This weekend was filled with Xus through Yangs! I’m terrible with Xs because I can never pronounce it right, but the Yangs were a nice break ๐
Martin
It’s not that I don’t like a fresh and tasty bread if it’s made with soda. I did some of those years ago. Actually, they’ve always been pretty nice but also quite dense and rather heavy, compared with my currently preferred fluffier yeast experiments. And: I believe, yeast dough just works better with wholemeak/grain flour, spelt, buckwhet etc… and that what I playin with most times today. … and, as I said, you bread looked lovely.
PS: Sometimes it’s funny to hear about the spelling difficulties with Chinese depending on a laowai’s own language… I’d always some problems to make a propper difference of things like xรฌng and xรจng and not actually to speak the ‘r’ in ren. X’s were never a big problem (simply say ‘sh’ like in a soft ‘shoe’ + tongue behind the lower teeth row without pressing it against the teeth + keep your tounge flat without forming a halfpipe… and make sure there’s an oral surgeon availably for the treatment afterwards ๐
MaryAnne
For some reason, I find the X quite difficult. I know what it should sound like but I end up doing too much SHHH when there should be more HSH. I’ve been told that my xiexie is spot on but it’s still a struggle to consciously get right in other words/names (don’t know why). Rs are okay for me, as are the ZHs. The Cs kill me though.
bean
Shape your mouth for making a J,or puckering for a kiss then Quickly, (before your brain latches on to it), change it to a X sound ,
Cs are a killer for me,, Rs are a problem. too, and as I move from province to province I have never bottomed them.
Anyway most Chinese will turn to any Chinese people with you and not listen to you anyway….
Sometimews traders hand my change to my fiancee, after which they get no more of my business.
China!
TracyAnn0312
It may taste incredible, I love eating potato because it can be another alternative food from rice. The picture looks like bread love to taste it.
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MaryAnne
It was very nice, yes.
mjskit
You’ve lived in some very interesting places. My life is quite boring in comparison! ๐ Love both of these recipes, but I have to admit that I’m partial to the potato farls. Looks like a perfect accompaniment to many things (like a scoop of chopped green chile and a egg on top!). Might just have to give that a try! Hope you had a great St. Patrick’s Day!
mjskit recently posted..Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter Sauce
MaryAnne
Your life is definitely not boring, just more geographically stable. Like apples and oranges- both are fruit in the end. ๐ The farls were gorgeous, even just served plain, hot from the wok. The soda bread, however, was much better than I’d expected- moister, with a more smooth and delicate crumb than I’d remembered from previous experiments. Maybe it was the black wheat flour? Anyway, when I finally tried a slice (slathered with butter and berry jam and packed as a late breakfast to be eaten when I got to Zhengzhou for work on Saturday morning), I was actually impressed. Total comfort food.
mjskit
Anything slathered with butter and berry jam HAS to be good! ๐
mjskit recently posted..Green Chile Succotash
Mary@FitandFed.net
I love soda bread, so you’d think that recipe would tempt me the most…. but actually it’s the potato farls that I’m drooling over– fried in roasted garlic oil? Yum.
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MaryAnne
The farls fried in garlic-chili oil were lovely. So lovely that I ended up eating all of them over the course of two days (I forget how many the 2 spuds made but it was at least 3 or 4!). And that soda bread? Really good. Too good. I rediscovered my old love of butter and jam on warm, fresh bread… dangerous!
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bean
You can get wholemeal flour in Shanghai? Nearest I’ve found is Hong Kong.
And the Infra red elements in Chinese toaster ovens wear out so fast I am investigating baking bread in the wok, (Gou).
Induction hob at 600W, flat steaming insert, keep turning for a crust on both sides).
Have only done flatbreads so far until I get a domed metal wok cover