The other day I had run out of bread and really fancied a boiled egg for my breakfast which obviously needed to be accompanied with bread and butter. I therefore needed to make some bread ASAP and the quickest way was to make some Soda Bread Farls.
How to make Soda Bread Farls
So that morning I switched on my electric crêpe maker to heat up while I made the dough. I rolled the dough out, cut it into farls or quarters and then put the first batch on to cook while I had my shower. After my shower I came downstairs to turn them. They finished cooking while I got dressed and by the time I had laid the table, made the tea and boiled my egg they were cool enough to split and butter – if you follow this make sure you don’t spend too long in the shower!
What are Soda Bread Farls?
Soda Bread Farls are griddle breads which are especially popular in Northern Ireland (Ulster) where they are an essential part of the ‘Ulster Fry’, the N. Ireland equivalent of the ‘Full English’ breakfast. The word farl literally means fourth part.
What Equipment to use
My parents came from N. Ireland and my grandmother taught me how to make them on her old fashioned cast iron griddle. Nowadays, I make them on my electric crêpe maker rather than my cast iron griddle as it is easier to control the temperature, but if you have neither of these you can use a heavy frying pan.
How to make Soda Bread Farls
I reckon that you can make a batch of four soda bread farls in about half an hour – my crêpe maker fits four comfortably. My recipe makes eight so you will need to allow another 15-20 minutes to cook the second batch.
Here’s how to do it!
Soda Bread Farls
Please note the cooking time above is for two batches. Each batch of four should take around 15-20 minutes depending on the temperature of your griddle or crêpe maker.
8
servings15
minutes30
minutesIngredients
1 pound plain white flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
½ pint buttermilk or sour milk (to sour ½ pint of fresh milk add the juice of ½ lemon and leave to stand for 5 minutes)
Directions
- Heat the griddle to a medium high temperature while you mix the dough.
- Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Mix to a dough with the milk.
- Tip out onto a floured working surface and knead very lightly until smooth.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Roll out each piece of dough to a round, about ½ inch thick and cut into 4 quarters or farls.
- Put these onto the heated ungreased griddle to cook.
- Cook for 8 minutes. The underside should be a light golden brown. You can lift to check if they are browning too quickly about halfway and adjust the temperature of the griddle accordingly.
- Turn the farls and continue cooking for approximately another 8-10 minutes until cooked through and a pale golden colour on both sides.
- Remove from the griddle and cool wrapped in a clean tea towel on a wire rack.
- My crepe maker only has room for 4 farls so I have to cook them in 2 batches. If your griddle is large enough to take 8 farls then you will only need to cook 1 batch.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving Size: 1 g
- Total number of serves: 4
- Calories: 180kcal
- Fat: 2g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Sodium: 400mg
- Potassium: 80mg
- Carbohydrates: 35g
- Fiber: 2g
- Sugar: 2g
- Protein: 5g
- Vitamin A: 0mcg
- Vitamin C: 0mg
- Calcium: 20mg
- Iron: 2mg
- Vitamin D: 0mcg
- Vitamin E: 0mg
- Vitamin K: 0mcg
- Thiamin: 0mg
- Riboflavin: 0mg
- Niacin: 0mg
- Vitamin B6: 0mg
- Vitamin B12: 0mcg
- Folate: 0mcg
- Biotin: 0mcg
- Pantothenic Acid: 0mg
- Phosphorus: 60mg
- Iodine: 0mcg
- Magnesium: 10mg
- Zinc: 0mg
- Selenium: 0mcg
- Copper: 0mg
- Manganese: 0mg
- Chromium: 0mcg
- Molybdenum: 0mcg
- Chloride: 0mg
Serving Soda Bread farls
Soda bread farls are delicious split and buttered with cheese, honey or jam, or just simply toasted and buttered. They make a superb bacon butty – I like mine with sliced fried tomatoes as well as bacon and of course are an essential ingredient of the ‘Ulster Fry’.
They are best eaten on the day of making but can be fried or toasted the next day. Any leftovers freeze beautifully and can be defrosted either in the microwave or my preferred method, wrapped in foil in a hot oven.
I do hope you try this recipe. It is a very simple way to make some bread. The only difficulty is regulating the temperature of the griddle, which becomes easier with practice.
All my Soda Breads
I have a number of soda bread recipes on my site so if you like these Soda Bread Farls please take a look at the other recipes.
Until next time,
Happy baking!
Tanya
