A crowd-pleasing, help-yourself starter. Take the bread out of the oven an hour before lunch and it'll still be warm when it hits the table
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber
- small pack dill, chopped
- 200g pack smoked salmon
- small jar capers in brine
- 1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
For the soda bread
- 280g strong white flour, plus a little extra for dusting
- 200g wholegrain flour
- 1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 350g buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp clear honey
- butter, to serve
Method
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First, make the soda bread. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 4 and dust a large baking sheet with flour. In a large bowl, combine the flours, bicarbonate of soda and 1 /4 tsp salt. Pour the buttermilk, egg and honey into a jug and whisk to combine.
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Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Using a wooden spoon, bring the mixture together to form a dough – if it’s too wet and sticky, add a little extra flour. Shape into a rough ball and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle over a little flour, make a criss-cross incision on top of the loaf and bake in the oven for 35 mins – the bread is cooked when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow. Slide onto a wire rack to cool a little before slicing.
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Meanwhile, using a peeler, slice the cucumber into long ribbons all the way around, but discard the seeded centre. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with a little seasoning and mix well with the dill.
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Serve at the table with the salmon slices, capers, lemon wedges, soda bread and butter.