Recipe Irish Soda Bread

Shamrock and Roll
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with homemade Irish brown soda bread


St. Patrick's Day is more than just a day of downing green beer and feigning Celtic ties with a "Kiss me, I'm Irish" button.

This year, let's make it about the humble and misunderstood Irish soda bread. Somewhere along the trip across the pond, it morphed into a giant scone-like baked good, so we gave it a face-lift with a recipe for a sweet-savory nutty brown loaf. We also talked to Imen McDonnell, author of just-released The Farmette Cookbook, about what the mid-March holiday—and the traditional loaf—really looks like in Ireland.

Check any preconceived notions of dry, crumbly soda bread at the door: This golden raisin- and rosemary-speckled loaf will shamrock your world.

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Traditional Irish soda bread has four ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. But Americans decided that wasn't enough, so modern versions often contain extras like eggs, caraway seeds and butter.

Our recipe straddles the line between traditional and newfangled: Dark brown sugar sweetens the loaf just slightly, while bits of chopped rosemary add a lingering savory note to offset plump golden raisins. Flour in Ireland is traditionally lower in protein than American flour, so we use cake flour to mimic it and keep the texture light, plus whole wheat flour and wheat germ to maintain brown bread's deep color and token nuttiness.

Make sure you score a cross into the top of the loaf: Irish folklore says this is to let the fairies out, but cooking science has this down as a method to allow heat to escape and the bread to expand.
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Ingredients
1 cup cake flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup wheat germ

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish

1⅔ cups buttermilk

1 cup golden raisins

2 tablespoons melted butter

Butter and jam, for serving
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Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Lightly grease a 9-inch cast-iron skillet.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, wheat germ, sugar, baking soda, salt and chopped rosemary.

3. Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined, then mix the golden raisins into the dough. Use your hands to lightly knead the dough until a ball shape forms, making sure not to overmix, as this will toughen the bread.

4. Place the ball of dough into the prepared skillet. Use a knife to score the top, cutting about a third of the way through the dough in an X formation. Brush the top of the loaf with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of rosemary on top. Bake the bread until the crust is golden and the loaf is hollow when tapped, about 40 minutes.

5. Allow the bread to cool completely, then slice and serve with butter and jam.

 

You beat me to it @tacmotusn. Last year you posted the monkey version that included bacon-
Recipe - Irish Cheddar and Bacon Soda Bread (no yeast required) | Survival Monkey Forums

I have already bought a loaf but will be making my own. The stuff I bought was very Americanized. No rosemary and lots of sugar.

 

good on you me wee lassie

 

Thank for this simple recipe @tacmotusn. I am a New Yorker but I lived in dublin for a while. After coming back I really missed the delicacies from Ireland, specially baileys irish cream chocolate chip cheesecake. Usually I don't bake but rather opt for online order and delivery services provided by wholesale cheesecake suppliers since I am not good at baking. But you made me remember the time I had in dublin so I am going to try my hands on this recipe....definitely with somebody's help!!

 

It hardly seems a Survival Monkey recipe without bacon....even the desserts seem to have bacon as an ingredient....