Irish Soda Bread

Wherever you go and whatever you do , May the luck of the Irish be with you – unknown author.Yes, it’s St. Patrick’s day! The day cannot be celebrated without some soda bread. Yesterday while coming from work as I was scrolling through my Instagram page; I came across this soda bread recipe, which made me think I have never tried making soda bread. As soon as I went home, I decided I am going to make Irish Soda Bread and luckily I had all the ingredients at home.I have made so many different types of bread, but never soda bread. I don’t know it never appealed to me. But, thank goodness I made it. Ohh, soda bread where were you all these years. It is an awesome delicious kind of bread. It is super easy. It is buttery, rich, quick, and crusty, crumbly at the same time with soft center. The best part is you do not have to wait for it to proof forever. I made it in less two hours considering the baking time took most of it.

I looked through some recipes to see which ones I like the most and was easiest , quickest to make.

So, here’s what I came up with.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¹/₂ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons of cardamom or cinnamon (optional)

1 tablespoon orange zest

5 tablespoons plus 2-3 tbsp cold butter, cut into chunks

1 ¹/₄ cups buttermilk

¹/₂ cup currants or raisins

¼ cup walnuts

 Method:

Heat oven to 400°F.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in the buttermilk and currants, walnuts and with the help of paddle attachment mix it with the help of kitchen aid mixer. As always if you do not have a kitchen aid mixer; do not worry, just use a spatula to mix and then use your hands.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead a little bit gently if possible. My dough tends to be very sticky so I used dough scraper. Shape into ball. Place onto greased baking sheet or pan. I used a pie pan. Remember to use something that has a rim. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter and add it on top of the bread. Try to cover most of it.

Form a circle. Cut 1/2 inches deep cross in top of dough with sharp knife.

Bake 30 minutes and then reduce the temperature and bake for another 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove it from the oven. Let it cool slightly.

Serve warm with lots of butter and jam of your choice.