Soda bread pastry flour (made from soft wheat), which has lower levels of gluten than a bread flour. In some recipes, the buttermilk is replaced by live yogurt or even stout. Because the leavening action starts immediately (compared to the time taken for yeast bread to rise), bakers recommend the minimum amount of mixing of the ingredients before baking; the dough should not be kneaded. Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made using wholemeal, white flour, or both. In Ulster, the wholemeal variety is usually known as "wheaten bread" and is normally sweetened, while the term
Buttermilk facilitates the butter churning process, since fat from cream with a lower pH coalesces more readily than that of fresh cream. The acidic environment also helps prevent potentially harmful microorganisms from growing, increasing shelf-life. However, in establishments that used cream separators, the cream is hardly acidic at all. On the Indian subcontinent, the term "buttermilk" refers to the liquid left over after extracting butter from churned cream. Today, this is called "traditional buttermilk". Traditional buttermilk is still common in many Indian, Nepalese, and Pakistani households, but rarely found in Western countries. In Nepal, buttermilk is called "mohi" and is a