I might once have described my memory as "an iron-clad lockbox" but taking care of a toddler has turned my brain into a swamp. So it was hardly surprising that I was out and about for several hours last Thursday before it dawned on me that it was St. Patrick's Day. I had vaguely registered that a lot of people seemed to be wearing green but I didn't think much of it. It was only after I noticed that grinning leprechauns were leering at me from behind random corners that I finally put it together that it must be St. Patrick's Day.
It was shortly after this "aha moment" that I spotted these big, gorgeous hunks of Irish soda bread lying around, flaunting their good looks in a local bakery. As I was drooling over them, I realized that I actually had no idea what Irish soda bread was... I decided to look it up when I got home and (minor miracle!) also managed to remember to do it the next time I was in front of a computer.
Turns out that it's called soda bread for, you guessed it, bicarbonate of soda, which is used to leaven the bread. My search turned up lots of variations on traditional Irish soda bread which is made with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and salt -- nothing more nor less.
I was particularly drawn to the recipes for sweet Irish soda bread with raisins since "ray-ray" constitute one of my son, Will's main food groups these days. He seems to have a hollow leg when it comes to "nature's candy." And since that carton of organic buttermilk sitting in the fridge was not getting any younger, I figured, why not give it a shot?
It did not take long to mix up a batch of dough and get it ready to bake. The caraway seeds gave me pause for a moment but then I tossed them in and I am so glad I did. The combination of their uniquely tangy, almost floral flavor and the straightforward fruity sweetness of the raisins is not to be missed.
Soda bread is traditionally baked with a cross cut on top. My new blogger friend, Shannon Marie at Forks, Knives & Spades, offers up three possible explanations for the cross:
- To help it cook more uniformly,
- To let the faeries out prior to baking, or
- To remind good Irish Catholics where their loyalties lie...
I busted out the bread while it was still warm and served chunks to our maple syrup-making guests, Daniel and Rio, and to Rahm and Will. It went over quite well.
As predicted, Will mostly picked the raisins out of his piece and ate them but I think I saw him take a few bites of actual bread, too.
Next year, I hope to remember to make this bread BEFORE St. Patrick's Day but it's good any time of year.
* 3 Tbsps sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 4 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into pieces
* 1/2 cup raisins or currants (you can use more if you're into raisins)
* 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
* 1 large organic egg
* 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and cut it in with a pastry blender until the mixture is the consistency of fine meal. Once at this point, use your hands to pinch and fluff the mixture. Add the raisins and caraway seeds and mix in with your hands to distribute.
3. In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork, then stir in the buttermilk and baking soda. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir with the fork until the mixture forms a damp dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and coat the dough with flour on all sides. Knead with you hands a few times, then flatten into a disk about 8" across. Place in the center of the prepared baking sheet and, with a floured sharp knife, cut a 1/2"-deep cross on top.
5. Bake for 45-55 minutes. The loaf should be a deep golden brown and sound hollow when rapped with knuckles. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
6 comments:
I too just discovered soda bread, love the simplicity of it! Thanks for noticing the design change on my site, just happened late last week. Hope spring is on the way for you!
I love the addition of caraway seeds. And it sounds delicious with your maple syrup as well. I found myself picking out the dates (my favorite) very much like your son and raisins!
Margaret here ... Love the recipe, Eve, and will be making some this afternoon. However, the English Spotted Dick pudding is another thing altogether from Irish soda bread. Not the thing to get confused on St. Patrick's Day :)
I understand completely that this is not classic Irish soda bread, but this is what I make every St. Patricks Day for my mother and my sister and her husband. Not classic Irish? Neither is the corned beef and cabbage and root vegetables. The carrots on the menu are especially inauthentic for Irish Catholics, but our family heritage is American Scotch-Irish, so good ole William of Orange is welcome at our table.
Oh my ! My militantly Protestant Irish Grandma, may she rest in peace, would be horrified. An egg in the soda bread ? Or as she always called them, Scones. She came from Ireland in her late teens, first to NYC, later to Toronto, where she ran into Grandad, who was someone she knew, from a farm down the road in the old country. It was fate, I guess.
Using an egg and butter sounds delish and I will have to try it that way. For the longest time we didn't have the recipe, because Gran never measured anything. She used a beat up sliver plated serving spoon to scoop up everything. We finally got it after my Mom stood by one day and carefully, properly measured every ingredient after Gran tossed them in the bowl, using measuring cups and spoons she brought with her from home for the purpose. We just adored Gran's scones, especially when slathered with butter and her wonderful Seville marmalade.
I've meddled with her recipe for a long time and the way I make it now would also horrify her, but it suits me. She made hers with lard and buttermilk, ingredients she was never without. She absolutely insisted that lard was the only suitable fat, but I'd think butter would give it a more tender crumb.
Truly, Grandma's was not THE traditional soda bread, because she always used some sugar and also baking powder. I've had other 'scones' though, and they're nothing like what Gran made, so I think her recipe was closer to being soda bread than not. She made them two ways; brown, with half whole wheat flour, and white, jam packed with Sunmaid raisins. I always was partial to the brown ones myself. She always made them in round cake tins and according to her, the criss cross cut on top was made so they'd rise more evenly. I've made them without the cross and it doesn't appear to make any difference one way or the other.
She's been gone a very long time now, but I can still see her at her counter in the little house my Grandad built, making scones, every time I see or hear about or eat Soda bread. I don't suppose I'll ever know why she always called her delectable bread a scone though.
Her scones sound delicious, Karen! Thanks for sharing.
Best,
E
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