Irish Soda Bread Recipe

This recipe comes from my mother. I'm not sure where she got it. She hasn't been making it my entire life, but I remember it showing up in the dinner rotation around the time I was in junior high. Soda bread gets its name from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as a leavening agent. Lots of times raisins are also added to this bread, but I personally don't like raisins when they are cooked in things, so if mom doesn't like it... it doesn't go in :) This bread is dense and chewy on the inside yet crispy and crunchy on the outside. Here's the how-to...

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour, divided
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1½ Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (I've made it with regular milk before, and it turned out fine.)

Directions:

1. Measure out 2 cups of flour. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients. The dough will be super sticky.

2. Take the other half cup of flour and start adding it a little at a time as you knead the dough. I've done it by hand, but this time I used the dough hook on my stand mixer, and it worked great. Keep adding flour and knead until the dough forms a nice ball. It takes a while, but it's worth it!

3. With floured hands, form the dough into a slightly flatted ball and place on a greased baking sheet.

Using a very sharp knife, cut a cross into the top of the dough, about 3/4" deep.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. This bread is kind of doughy and chewy, but you have to be careful because the center ends up way too doughy if you don't cook it long enough. I especially like to eat this bread warm with butter on it.

This is a fun recipe to pull out for St. Patrick's Day this weekend. Enjoy!




P.S. There hasn't been a whole lot of sewing going on around here lately. I just haven't been into it and really haven't had much time for it. But... this weekend I sewed my project for this month's Point of View, and I am absolutely in love with it. In the top five favorite things I've ever made. But you'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see it :)

I'm linking up...