Irish Soda Bread

Not Too Bad For My First Attempt At Baking Bread

Sides

My Thoughts

Soda bread is a quick, delicious, and easy bread to make. Unlike sourdough bread, there's no starter or messing around with yeast (not that there's anything wrong with it). Let's put it this way, I don't bake (cheesecake doesn't count). This bread is easy enough that I am willing to actually bake! It's also really versatile. It tastes great and is perfect for dipping in soups or frying it up and making fried bread with (a great alternative to toast, but that's another recipe). Oh, and it is the perfect bread for St. Patrick's Day (it has Irish in the name after all).

The How To Do It

  1. Freeze a stick of butter. You're going to have to grate the butter later (or cut it into really small chunks).
  2. Preheat your oven to 375° and make sure the top rack is in the middle of the oven.
  3. Prepare a surface with parchment paper (or waxed paper) and dust it lightly with flour. Also, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
  5. Once the butter is frozen, grate it using a box grater. You'll want to use the next to smallest set of holes. You don't want powder, but you aren't going for large chunks. If you have one of the crank-style graters (like you see in Italian restaurants) use it. Makes life a whole lot easier and you won't be melting the butter with the heat from your hands!
  6. Add the butter into the bowl and mix the dry ingredients using a fork (that's what I used anyway) until the mixture looks a bit like cornmeal or sand. That's why we grated the butter so small. It allows it to combine with the other ingredients.
  7. In another bowl, combine the egg and buttermilk.
  8. Make a small well in the middle of the bowl and pour in the buttermilk/egg mixture.
  9. Using a large spoon (or better yet a silicone spatula), fold the dry ingredients into the wet. As it starts to tighten up, you'll have to switch to using your hands. Yep, you get to get dirty! Continue kneading the dough until you can form it into a ball (kind of a lumpy football looking thing).
  10. Turn the dough out onto the parchment paper and knead it a few more times so that it holds together.
  11. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes (it may take as long as an hour - ovens vary a bit). Keep an eye on it and make sure that it is not burning.

Ingredients

Irish Soda Bread
3 ½ cups
all purpose flour
2 tbsp
sugar
1 tsp
baking soda
1 tsp
kosher salt
4 tbsp
unsalted butter
*should be frozen
1 ½ cups
buttermilk
1 lrg
eggs
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