Irish Soda Bread
Irish soda bread is a perfect recipe to make for St. Patrick's Day. It's so easy, very traditional, and can be used with versatility.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 4¼ cup flour
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 egg (optional for density)
Instructions
- Combine your dry ingredients in one mixing bowl (flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt along with raisins if you’re adding them). In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients (egg and buttermilk).
- Finely chop the butter into cubes. (Consider freezing the butter to make it more firm — you don’t want soft butter.)
- Use a pastry cutter or a fork (or even your fingers) to cut the butter into the flour, cutting it into pea-sized pieces incorporated in the flour.
- Pour the buttermilk/egg mixture into the flour and fold until all the flour is moistened and the mixture becomes a dough. Then knead the dough for about 30 seconds (but don’t over-knead it!) and shape the dough into a ball. You can then score the top of the dough ball with a deep X shape.
- Place the dough on a cast iron skillet or baking pan, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown on the outside. Let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes and cut with a bread knife.