Soda bread is a type of quick bread that contains only four main ingredients. The reason it doesn’t need yeast is because it uses baking soda as its raising agent, which reacts with the lactic acid found in buttermilk to produce carbon dioxide bubbles.
Soda and sourdough bread both contain lactic acid. Sourdough uses its naturally occurring yeast which has lactic acid in it, while soda bread uses buttermilk.
Soda bread and other quick breads tend to use softer wheat varieties like pastry flour, or all purpose flour, as the gluten in the flour is less important for the rise of the bread.
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