Courgette, chive & cheddar soda bread

In case you aren’t already familiar with the double butter approach, it goes like this. Round one: apply a generous layer of butter straight onto warm toast or bread. It will soak into the bread and, depending on the crumb, maybe trickle right through, leaving golden pools on the plate. Round two: once the bread has absorbed the first layer of butter and cooled ever so slightly, apply a second thick smear. If timed just so, this layer will soften rather than melt completely into the bread, retaining its form enough to act as a little cushion upon which flaky salt can then sit.

I can’t think of a toast/warm bread situation in which I wouldn’t favour this approach, but it’s especially welcome in the case of this courgette, chive and cheddar soda bread. In fact, the bossy boots in me would go so far as to make it a fundamental (the fundamental?) part of the recipe.

As with all soda bread, this is best eaten warm from the oven. After that, I find it’s best to slice up the rest of the loaf for the freezer then pop slices straight into the toaster from frozen as and when.