The next stop on our St. Patrick’s Day journey is the infamous Irish Soda Bread. The typical soda bread is made currants or raisins, but I was serving this with Irish Stew (that’s the next stop on the Irish Love Train!), so I wasn’t really feeling the raisins in my bread. Since I’m a quarter Irish, I feel like I can make those kinds of adjustments!

image

Now, maybe I’m doing this all wrong, but my impression of soda bread is that it’s something that you need to eat fresh out of the oven. If you wait until soda bread is day old, it comes across as more brick like. In fact, I’m sure if you do a site excavation of ancient Irish dwellings, you’ll find entire villages constructed of old soda bread!

That being said, if you’re serving a hearty meal like stew, and you have fresh soda bread, you’re in for a treat! I feel like I need to go to the dictionary to find some better descriptors. I don’t know that I’m doing this dish justice!

This is horrible, but I can’t find where I put the recipe I used, so for right now, I’ll leave a link to one, and then I’ll hunt down my piece of paper! This recipe has the raisins and caraway seeds, but you can make it your own if you want.

Edit* I found the recipe! This version is adapted from allrecipes.com

p.s. In case you don’t recognize the awesomeness, this is one of Candice’s photos!

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 c. flour
• 1c. buttermilk
• 4 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 c. butter, melted

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a large mixer combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix to combine.
2. Add buttermilk and egg.
3. Mix on low speed for two minutes, until dough comes together.
4. Shape dough into a round loaf and use a knife to mark an “X” on the top.
5. Bake in a 375º oven for 45 minutes.
6. When the bread is done baking, brush it with the melted butter.
7. Serve while warm.