My Granny Blacker baked soda farls on the griddle every day in life, asking my grandfather every day what he would like for his ‘tea’ when regardless of the answer it was always Soda Farls. She bought the flour in sacks and then used these cotton sacks to make bed sheets, my mother still has one with ‘Mortons Flour’ printed on it.

My grandparents lived in the country near Portadown in County Armagh. Granny Blacker died in 1973 at the age of 75 when I was just 3. I inherited her name and her love of baking. This is the easiest soda bread to make and often features in my Traditional Irish Baking classes.

I’m very lucky to have my grandmother’s griddle and I use it in my classes to make the soda farls, potato bread and potato apple bread which is a traditional County Armagh recipe that was always made at Halloween.

Traditional Irish Baking Recipes

We have a wonderful culture of home baking in Northern Ireland and celebrating the best of Northern Irish produce lies at the heart of my Traditional Irish Baking classes.

We use lovely local and seasonal produce, including local butter, flours milled in Northern Ireland, buttermilk, free range eggs from my mother’s hens, Bramley apples from County Armagh where my family have long been involved in the apple business, Rose hips, Damsons, Elderflower and Blackberries from the hedgerows, crab apples from my own garden and potatoes of course!

Baking Classes

These are hands-on baking classes using lovely authentic baking recipes handed down by the generations of women (not least my own grandmother) who baked every day and that are still relevant and baked daily in homes all over N. Ireland.