One thing I have learned over the years. It’s okay to be unhappy recipe. Everyone has different tastes and sometimes you just won’t like how a baked good tastes. For instance, I made some of the most impressive looking Irish Soda Bread from one of my favorite youtube baking channels. In fact, I made 2 loaves because I was so excited.

When the first one came out a bit…different, I was sure it was my fault. Perhaps the cuts to release the fairies weren’t big enough and they cursed my bread? (For more information about this, go to the linked recipe above.)

So again, I went about making a new loaf, using all of the wheat flour I had left. This time, I made sure to check off each ingredient and even double checked the amounts. I also made sure to work even quicker and had that bread in the oven in less than three minutes! I was impressed. And it looked and smelled fantastic!

I couldn’t wait to try it. But I maintained calmness while the bread cooled and took off a small slice. First, I used butter and it was very tasty. And then…what is that aftertaste? Thinking perhaps the butter was a bit stale, I tried a piece plain. The aftertaste was strong and it was a bitter metallic flavor. I was so unhappy.

That is when you learn the drawback of quick soda breads. The bicarbonate of soda is a tricky little guy. When off balance to the acids in the recipe, it doesn’t have enough material to work with and ends up creating an aftertaste you won’t soon forget.

My only guess was perhaps it’s because our buttermilk is no longer actually milk left over from making butter, but rather, it’s a cultured substance that is vaguely resembling a thicker form of buttermilk. That perhaps is creating a ratio imbalance leading to the bitterness. I asked my mom about it. We are Irish mutts, my grandfather’s parents came from Wicklow, Ireland. And yet, I never remember having soda bread on the table. We would have all kinds of Irish dishes heavy with potatoes, cabbage and scones that we now referred to as biscuits. But I never remember seeing a soda bread that wasn’t without sugar and some type of fruit.

Her answer was something like this: “Oh, boy. When I saw you making that soda bread, I almost called and stopped you. But you had to learn sometime. Old fashioned soda bread has always been a bitter tasting and no one really liked it. That’s why we ate scones or biscuits. No metallic aftertaste and just as easy to make.”

So the reason you never found soda bread in our home despite clinging to many other Irish recipes and traditions? It simply tastes…not that great. Perhaps I will spend some time in the future making some version of an Irish soda bread again without so much baking soda and see if it helps any. And then again, there are so many other breads out there that are wonderful and more appealing to me. It really is okay to be unhappy with a recipe, even when it’s something you make. This particular bread? Looks like it’s going to the birds.