Irish Soda Bread

This quick bread recipe is a tasty festive way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day (takes less than an hour to make!). The Irish name come from when baking soda was first introduced to Ireland, this bread recipe was a culinary advancement and humble necessity to the poor Irish communities. I make mine with caraway seeds and raisins and it is such a delicious comfort food ☺️ low gluten flour is best for this bread (otherwise it could turn out very dense and hard).

🍀 May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand. 🍀

INGREDIENTS:

4 to 4 1/2 cups flour (low gluten

1 Tbsp sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 Tbsp butter

2 heaping teaspoons caraway seeds

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup raisins

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425°F. 

Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.

Using your (clean) fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in the currants, raisins, and caraway seeds.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir.

Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in a little more flour. Do not over-knead!

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf. The term I’ve seen in a lot of recipes is that the dough should be “shaggy”. 

Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased 8” or 9” round cake pan. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an "X" shape. (The purpose of the scoring is to help cook the center of the bread.)

Transfer to oven and bake at 425°F until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35-45 minutes. 

Enjoy!