Knead flour, salt and buttermilk or Guinness for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Open the dough and sprinkle in half of the baking soda. Close it then sprinkle on the remaining half. Mind that once baking soda is mixed with acid (buttermilk in our case) the chemical reaction that rises the bread immediately starts and dies off pretty quickly (about 2 minutes in the open air) so be quick forming the dough.

Since the bread should have a good enough gluten structure now, thanks to the elongated kneading, we can form the bread into shape and let the baking soda do its thing with the acid of the buttermilk.

Let it grow for 10 minutes or so.

Place the dough into the 400°F / 200°C preheated baking vessel (anything ovenproof with a lid would do it such as a Dutch oven). Cut a cross or simple lines on the top so the bread has space to expand.

Optionally apply a coat of buttermilk/Guinness on top for added moisture.

Put the lid on.

Put it into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top for about 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake it for 10-15 minutes more for golden brown crust.

Take the bread out onto a cooling rack. Let is cool somewhat then slice and serve.