Alright, so Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the year: Saint Patrick’s Day.

As a kid, I never really appreciated Saint Patrick’s Day very much.  To me it was a holiday centered around pinching people who forgot to wear green.  We were Protestant, so we never did anything in particular to celebrate the day.  Since that time however, I’ve known some pretty cool Catholics–particularly Irish Catholics at the Catholic high school I attended–and I’ve developed a deeper appreciation for all things Irish.

This week, we honor the man who brought Christianity to Ireland by highlighting some traditional Irish recipes.  First up on our list is good ol’ fashion Irish Soda Bread.

Irish soda bread fulls under the category of quick breads.  Quick breads use baking soda or baking powder as a leavener (“leaven” refers to the rising of bread dough prior to cooking).  Ordinarily, yeast is introduced into bread dough, and immediately goes to work eating the sugar present in the dough and converting it into alcohol and carbon dioxide.  The carbon dioxide is what causes bread dough to rise–the porous dough fills with gas like a balloon, expanding to become light and fluffy prior to cooking.  Ordinarily, one might have to wait an hour or more for bread dough leavened with yeast to rise.  Baking soda allows the bread to rise as it cooks, making it light and fluffy without all the waiting.

Alright, now that we know that, let’s get into our ingredients and cooking process for this old Irish staple.

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups of flour (white all purpose flour will work, but for best results, use cake flour or some sort of soft wheat flour).
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda (NOT baking powder).
• 1 teaspoon of salt.
• 1 3/4 Cups of milk or buttermilk (about 14 ounces).

The Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
   
3. Add your 1 and 3/4 Cups of milk/buttermilk to form a sticky dough.
4. Mix it well, then place it on a lightly floured surface–like a cutting board or clean counter top–and knead it lightly with your clean hands.  Don’t knead it too much, or the gas will escape from the dough.  Just fold it over on itself a few times.  When you’re done, the dough should be in a round loaf.  Note: This step may get messy.  Flour your hands before you start to minimize the amount of dough that sticks to your fingers.
   
5. Cut a cross in the top of your loaf of dough.
   
6. Place the dough in a well greased cake pan or Pyrex dish.  Cover it with a pan or cookie sheet, and place it in the oven for 30 minutes.
   
7. After 30 minutes, remove the cookie sheet or pan covering the bread.  Cook it for another 15 minutes.
   
8. Pull the bread out of the oven.  It should be golden brown across the top, and have a hollow sound when thumped.
   
9. Let the bread cool for a few minutes before slicing it.  When I cooked this bread, my brother-in-law and I didn’t wait long enough before slicing the bread up.  That caused the bread to stick to the knife and the other slices, producing a somewhat mangled-looking final product.  Let it cool, THEN slice it.
   

   

Soda Bread has a thick crust, and is surprisingly sweet, considering that no sugar is added.  However, many people many find it somewhat bland compared to the breads we’re accustomed to eating today.  Adding a few teaspoons of sugar or cinnamon–or even a handful of raisins–might improve the taste of this recipe.  Otherwise, my experience with Soda Bread was very positive.

This recipe takes about an hour from start to finish.  The most expensive part is the nearly-two-cups of milk that goes into it.  Otherwise, it’s an extremely cost effective way to make homemade bread without dropping the time and money yeast-leavened bread would require.

I have to give credit where credit is due.  I borrowed this recipe from The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.  Even though Irish Soda Bread recipes are fairly universal, their website was able to point me in the right direction for cooking this loaf of Irish heritage.

All in all, I have to say Irish Soda Bread is one of my new favorite recipes, and I look forward to making it again and again in the future.  Be sure to let me know how you like it.

Filed under: Recipes

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