Baking
Nettle & Wild Garlic Soda Bread
A green-flecked soda bread studded with wild garlic, best eaten warm from the oven with salted butter.
6 April 2026 5 min read Serves 8
Foraging notes
Young nettle tops and wild garlic leaves from shaded woodland, both picked before flowering.
Soda bread is the fastest bread in the book: no yeast, no proving, forty minutes from bowl to board.
Blanch the nettles first so the sting is gone and the colour stays bright. Wild garlic goes in raw.
Best months
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 150g wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 350ml buttermilk
- 100g blanched nettles, squeezed dry and chopped
- 3 wild garlic leaves, finely shredded
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Method
Blanch the nettles
Drop the nettle tops into boiling water for 30 seconds, refresh in cold water, squeeze out the water and chop.
Mix
Rub nothing: stir the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt together, then add the greens. Pour in the buttermilk and bring it together with a few quick folds.
Shape and bake
Shape into a round on a floured tray, cut a deep cross on top and bake at 200°C / 400°F for 30 to 35 minutes. It is ready when the base sounds hollow.
Kitchen tip: Eat it the day it is made, or slice and freeze while still warm so you can toast it through the week.
