My Favourite Flavours soda bread loaves, Signature

Hermine Dossou’s My Favourite Flavours Soda Bread

The handshake card

• Baker: Hermine Dossou
• UK series: Series 11 (2020)
• Week/theme: Week 3, Bread
• Challenge: Signature
• Handshake fact: Hermine received a Hollywood handshake for her My Favourite Flavours soda bread loaves.
• Yield: 1 loaf
• Difficulty: Easy
• Official timing: 40 minutes hands-on; 35–40 minutes baking
• Source: Hermine’s Smoked Salmon & Chive Soda Bread, The Great British Bake Off
• Evidence: Master index entry #36; research sources [S1], [S2], [S3].

A necessary bit of honesty about the published recipe

The verified index describes Hermine’s handshake as her My Favourite Flavours soda bread loaves. The official GBBO page linked for this entry is a closely related published Hermine recipe titled Smoked Salmon & Chive Soda Bread. It is presented here as the official related recipe, not as a claim that the page is a frame-for-frame transcript of every loaf made in the tent.

Why it earned the handshake

This soda bread packs smoked salmon, Gruyère, chives, and onion warmth into a quick loaf, then serves it with homemade black-garlic butter. The method keeps the mixing deliberately brief: soda bread wants gathering, not prolonged kneading. The source’s signature flourish is the butter, made by whisking cream until it separates and blending the butter with sweet, mild black garlic and dill.

Ingredients

Soda bread

• 200g plain flour
• 2 tbsp plain wholemeal flour
• 2 tbsp spelt flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 2 tbsp porridge oats
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 30g salted butter, chilled
• 120g smoked salmon, very finely chopped
• 50g Gruyère, grated
• 15g chives, finely snipped
• Good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg
• 160ml buttermilk, or enough with the egg to make 210ml total liquid
• 1 tbsp runny honey

Black-garlic butter

• 300ml double cream
• Flesh from 1 whole bulb of black garlic
• 30g dill fronds, finely chopped
• Pinch of sea salt
• Lemon wedge and dill sprig, to decorate

You will also need a baking sheet, a sharp knife, and muslin or a clean butter cloth for draining the butter.

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C; 200°C fan). Sift the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and cream of tartar into a bowl. Stir in the oats and onion powder.
2. Rub in the chilled butter until evenly dispersed. Toss through the salmon, Gruyère, chives, and pepper.
3. Crack the egg into a jug and add buttermilk until the combined liquid measures 210ml. Beat in the honey. Stir the wet mixture into the dry with a round-bladed knife until it just comes together.
4. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it slightly on a floured baking sheet, and cut a deep cross in the top. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
5. While the bread bakes, whisk the cream until it curdles, the butter gathers on the whisk, and the buttermilk separates. Drain the butter through muslin, squeezing gently to remove excess liquid.
6. Blend the butter with the black-garlic flesh, dill, and salt. Serve with the warm bread, lemon, and a dill sprig.

Baker’s tips

• Measure the egg and buttermilk together; the source’s 210ml total keeps the dough balanced.
• Mix only until the dough gathers. Extra handling makes soda bread heavy.
• Cut the cross deeply so the loaf can open as it rises.
• Black garlic is mild and sweet; squeeze the soft flesh from the bulb rather than chopping the skin.

Make-ahead

The butter can be made ahead, covered, and chilled; bring it to a spreadable temperature before serving. Soda bread is best on the day it is baked, when the crust is crisp and the crumb is tender.