How to make Soda Farls: A Griddle Bread Steeped in History

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There’s a particular kind of magic in a kitchen where bread is rising without an oven in sight. No proving drawer, no yeast, no hours of waiting — just a hot girdle, a bowl of flour, and a splash of buttermilk doing all the work. That’s the soda farl, and if you’ve ever wondered why this humble quartered bread tastes like a hug from someone’s granny, you’re not far wrong.

A word that’s older than you’d think

The word “farl” itself is pure old Scots. It comes from fardel, a Lowland Scots term for a three-cornered cake or a quarter of a round — in earlier Scots, fardell simply meant “a fourth.” For centuries, Scottish bakers cut their girdle scones and bannocks into these same quarter-wedges, long before the word crossed the North Channel and became firmly associated with Ulster and Northern Ireland, where soda farls now sit at the heart of the Ulster Fry. The technique — and the name — is a shared inheritance of the Scots and Ulster-Scots baking tradition, carried back and forth across the water for generations by farming and fishing families who moved between Ayrshire, Galloway, and Ulster.

Long before baking powder existed, cooks across Scotland relied on bicarbonate of soda paired with soured milk or buttermilk to lift their bread. It was fast, cheap, and needed no oven — perfect for crofting households where a girdle (or griddle) hung over an open peat fire was often the only cooking surface available. A soda farl could go from bowl to plate in under half an hour, which made it a lifeline on baking day, market day, or any day when there simply wasn’t time to wait for yeast.

When to eat a soda farl

There’s no wrong time, honestly, but tradition leans toward breakfast. A warm farl, split and buttered until it melts into every crevice, is the backbone of a proper Scottish or Ulster-Scots fry-up alongside eggs, bacon, and a good strong pot of tea. They’re equally at home mid-morning with jam, or torn open at teatime to mop up a bowl of soup or stew — the slightly tangy, dense crumb was built for soaking up butter and gravy alike. Because they’re best eaten fresh and warm from the griddle, farls were traditionally a baking-day treat rather than something kept for later in the week.

The easy Soda Farl recipe

Makes 4 farls

Ingredients

• 450g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• About 300ml buttermilk (you may not need it all)

Method

1. Heat a griddle, girdle, or heavy flat-bottomed frying pan over medium heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in most of the buttermilk. Mix quickly with your hand or a butter knife until it just comes together into a soft, slightly sticky dough — add the last of the buttermilk only if needed. Don’t overwork it; the less you handle soda dough, the lighter it bakes.
4. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and pat gently into a round about 2cm thick. Cut into four even farls.
5. Dust the hot griddle lightly with flour. Cook the farls for 6–8 minutes per side, until well risen and deeply golden, with a hollow sound when you tap the base.
6. Serve immediately, split open, with plenty of butter.

Tip: no buttermilk to hand? Stir a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into 300ml full-cream milk and let it sit for ten minutes before using.

Next time you’re in the Highlands or the Islands, keep an eye out for a bakery still turning out girdle-baked farls the old way — there’s nothing quite like the real thing, still warm, wrapped in a tea towel on the way home.

“A soda farl asks for nothing but flour, soda, buttermilk, and a hot girdle — and gives back everything a good breakfast should be.”

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