Irish Soda Bread

This was very yummy!

This recipe, adjusted for modern demographic trends, will give you two loaves, a little less than 8” in circumference, so you’ll need to grease up two pans with butter in preparation. Leave the butter out for 10-15 minutes so that it softens. You don’t want it too soft, however, but you won’t be able to work it into the dough if it’s too cold.

You’ll need four cups of white flour. Sift two cupsinto a large mixing bowl. Then sift in one teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of baking powder, one teaspoon of baking soda, one-half cup of sugar, and then the rest of the flour. Cut a quarter cup of butter into pieces, and, one by one, mash them into the mixture with a fork until there are no more buttery clumps.

Add two cups of raisins (or currants, if you want to keep it real) and mix well. Some purists swear that traditional soda bread doesn’t need raisins or sugar. Don’t listen to these people unless they helped pay for Irish independence with familial exile.

Whisk one egg in a bowl with 1 ¾ cup of buttermilk, add one teaspoon vanilla extract, because the Potato Famine is over and we can afford nice things now, make a crater in the center of the powdery mixture, and pour the buttermilk mixture into the center. Fold the dry ingredients over with a fork and slowly mix by hand until the batter is evenly-blended. It should be heavy, thick, and slightly sticky.

Sprinkle flour on the counter – don’t be shy, and make sure to powder your hands, as the batter will be stick otherwise, and knead the dough very lightly – two minutes, max. The goal is to knead it as little as possible, because you don’t want it thick. Keep a small mound of flour nearby and keep your hands dry. The dough will be mixed when none of it sticks to your hands.

Separate and mold into two loaves, slightly larger than softball-size, and powder the outside with the remaining flour. Run a knife about an inch-deep into the center of the loaves vertically, about four inches long, then do the same horizontally (you’ll have a cross that not only touches on the role the church played in Irish history, but that also helps the heat reach the thickest parts of the bread). Place them into the greased pans, and put into a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean.