Irish Soda Bread

Having lived in Ireland, I've tasted some mighty fine soda bread. It's tough to find an authentic loaf here in the US.

Soda bread is made without yeast and this one is made with both baking soda and buttermilk. It's about as authentic to traditional Irish as it can be. It's crusty outside and moist but dense inside. This recipe is adjusted from SimplyRecipes.com.

I soaked a cup of dried raisins in Jameson's Irish Whiskey to plump them (for about a day.) I then drained them in a colander an hour or so before adding them to the dough.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or cast iron skillet.

Mix 4 cups* of all-purpose flour with 1 T sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp of baking soda. *Keep the flour handy to add more if needed when mixing the dough into a round.

I grated 4 T of good, cold butter (Kerrygold or Kirkland or one of the good European brands). The cold grated butter is easier to work into the flour. 

In a larger work bowl, and using your hands (using thin plastic gloves work well) mix the dry ingredients and the butter, grinding the butter with your fingers. The SimplyRecipes instructions call for thoroughly mixing until the flour is the consistency of cornmeal. I'd say that the flour is a bit shy of being cornmeal, but it does feel different than just plain flour. Make sure the butter is mixed in well. Add the raisins and mix to coat them. 

Whisk a large egg and 1-3/4 cups of buttermilk together and pour it into a well of the flour/butter. 

At this point, you can continue mixing with the gloves on to make things easier, or you can use a wooden spoon. Whatever  you do, do not overmix. The goal here is to have a wet dough but no dry flour at the bottom of the bowl. Pour this mixture out onto a floured board and gently and quickly form somewhat of a ball of shaggy, wet dough. Overmixing makes for a tough bread.

I, in fact. added a small scoop of flour to the dough as I was shaping it and then poured the dough out of the bowl onto a greased griddle and formed it into a ball, shaping the edges into a round shape mounded on the griddle. I then placed a large 10" greased cheesecake pan round (without the flat bottom) around the dough so that it formed a nice round loaf when baking. You can use a greased cast-iron skillet instead.

Traditionally, Irish soda bread is cut with an X or cross with a serrated knife about 1-1/2 inch deep. 

I did not wash with milk or egg, but might next time. You can also sprinkle the milk or egg with crusty baking sugar. 

Place the skillet or griddle in the center of the hot oven. At the end of 30 minutes test for doneness with a skewer. Add 5 minutes and test again.  Repeat as necessary. It should be crusty and golden. 

Serve warm! The bread is great toasted with butter the next day.