Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Irish Soda Bread

I grew up in a big Irish Catholic family and St. Patrick's Day was always a big event in our house. We always went to the parade in Baltimore and my mom always (actually she still does) decorated the house with all kinds of Shamrocks and other green things. I even took a few years of Irish Step dance lessons and danced in the parade on a float a couple of years in a row. One thing I had never done, though, is make an Irish Soda Bread. So I decided to look for a recipe and give it a shot this year.

I searched blogs and websites and finally decided on a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I really do love this site. It has become my go-to site for tried and true recipes. This recipe was amazing. It turned out more beautiful and delicious than I thought it would. The only issue I had was when it came time to knead the dough. The recipe says that the dough will be sticky. Well, that may very well be the biggest understatement of the century. In the future, I will let my KA mixer do the kneading. I will definitely be keeping this as my go-to Irish Soda Bread recipe. It was so yummy!

Irish Soda Bread (allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup white sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups raisins
1 tbsp caraway seeds (I omitted these because I couldn't find them in the store)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cast iron skillet or a 9 inch round cake pan (I used a cake pan).

In a mixing bowl, combine flour (reserving 1 tbsp), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt raisins and caraway seeds. In a small bowl, blend eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Stir the liqiud mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 12 strokes. Dough will be sticky (they aren't kidding!) Place the dough in prepared skillet or pan and pat down. Cut a 4x3/4 inch deep slit in the top of the bread. Dust with reserved flour.

Bake in preheated oven for 65-75 minutes. Let cool and turn bread onto a wire rack.

Tastes great toasted with butter or jam!

11 comments:

  1. YUM! I bet dried cranberries would be great as well!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks yummy! I've never had Irish Soda Bread, but after seeing all these St. Patty's Day posts, I definitely want to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum Katie! I was toying with the idea of making a soda bread but decided not to. Now looking at yours, I wish I would have. : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks picture perfect! I had never heard of Irish soda bread before this year and all of the blog entries! I'll have to try it sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh and yeah~~~it was yummy!!! You did good! Blessings, Momma

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks wonderful! I have to try this next year :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I feel like everyone made soda bread this year but me. How come no one sent me the memo?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your loaf came out beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This looks wonderful Kayte. Of course I love all things bread. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. funny how i had never heard of irish soda bread but now that i am blogging it seems like everyone is blogging about this in honor of st patty's day! :)

    i love that you add raisins to yours

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a nice looking bread. I made one for the first time this year, so delicious... I like the sour cream in yours...might have to try that next time.

    ReplyDelete