When I used to visit my friends in Dublin, Anne would always have soda bread on the go. It was just there — on the table, still warm, eaten with butter and jam before anyone had thought about what else was happening that day. I don't know why it took me so long to start baking it myself.

This easy dairy-free soda bread came about on a day when I had neither yoghurt nor cow's milk in the house — just oat milk and apple cider vinegar, which turn out to be all you need. The vinegar sours the oat milk into a workable buttermilk substitute; the bicarbonate of soda does the rest, and the whole thing is in the oven inside fifteen minutes.

This recipe makes two loaves — one baked on a hot pizza stone and one in a preheated Dutch oven. Both work well, and the comparison is worth doing at least once.

Ingredients for easy dairy-free soda bread

(makes 2 loaves)

• 400g strong white flour
• 300g wholemeal flour
• 100g oatmeal
• 12g sea salt
• 12g bicarbonate of soda — not baking powder
• 600ml oat milk (you may not need it all)
• 28ml apple cider vinegar

Method

1. Preheat Heat the oven to 220°C fan. Place your Dutch oven and pizza stone inside to preheat at the same time — both need to be properly hot before the dough goes in.

2. Mix the dry ingredients Combine the flours, oatmeal, salt, and bicarbonate of soda in a stand mixer bowl.

3. Add the wet ingredients With the mixer on a low setting, add the vinegar first, then slowly pour in the oat milk until you have a ball of sticky dough. You may not need all the milk — stop when the dough just comes together.

4. Shape Turn out onto a floured surface and divide the dough in half. With floured hands, shape each half into a ball. Slash deeply across the top of each loaf with a bread knife and dust with a little flour.

5. Bake Place one loaf on the hot pizza stone and the other in the preheated Dutch oven. Put the lid on the Dutch oven. Transfer both to the oven and turn the temperature down to 200°C. Bake for 30 minutes — remove the Dutch oven lid for the last 10 minutes to allow the crust to colour.

6. Check and cool The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the base or when a probe thermometer reads around 95°C. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Eat with lashings of butter and strawberry jam. Anne would approve.

Pizza stone vs Dutch oven — what's the difference?

Both methods produce a good loaf, but they behave differently. The Dutch oven traps steam in the early stages of baking, which keeps the crust soft long enough for the loaf to spring up before it sets — the result is a slightly higher rise and a more even crust. The pizza stone gives a crispier base and a more rustic, free-form finish. If you only have one, the Dutch oven edges it — but a pizza stone is a perfectly good alternative.

A few notes on easy dairy-free soda bread

Bicarbonate of soda, not baking powder. The reaction between the soda and the acidic oat milk mixture is what gives this loaf its rise — baking powder won't give the same result.

The oat milk and vinegar combination works well here — the vinegar curdles the milk slightly, which mimics the acidity of buttermilk. Leave it for five minutes before adding to the dry ingredients if you have time.

This easy dairy-free soda bread is best on the day it's baked. Both loaves freeze well if you want to keep one back.

I hope you enjoy baking these bread recipes as much as I've enjoyed developing them. More will arrive here as they make it out of the oven and onto the page.

Find more bread recipes and food adventures at The Flexible Chef.

Wonky photos, proper bread, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef.