Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

Bread is usually made with yeast and bread flour and involves a long process of rising and punching down, resting and shaping, and is usually too much trouble to deal with on a daily basis.

Irish soda bread is the antithesis of this process. Instead of using special bread flour, soda bread uses all-purpose flour, something you are more likely to have on hand. Instead of yeast, which, if you have it, has probably expired long ago, soda bread uses baking soda. In fact, that is where the “soda” in Irish soda bread comes from.

You will need two round cake pans to make this Irish soda bread recipe. You will also need buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to give your bread a good rise.
Ingredients

* 4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 ¾ cups buttermilk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Using a whisk, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt well in a large bowl.
3. Add the buttermilk and mix with the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula.
4. Once the mixture has formed a sticky dough, turn the dough out onto a flour surface and gently knead until the dough holds a round shape.
5. Place the dough in a cake pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and lightly floured.
6. Cut a cross into the top of the bread.
7. Cover the first pan with the second pan (inverted) and bake the bread like this for 30 minutes.
8. Remove the top pan from the bottom pan and bake for another 15 minutes or until the bread has a golden brown crust.
9. Remove from oven and turn out onto a rack to cool.

Irish Rosies Soda Bread

Ingredients:
9 inch bread

* 3 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 pint sour cream
* 2 eggs
* 2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional but I always use them)
* 3/4 cup raisins

Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

1. 1 Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. 2 In a small bowl beat eggs and stir in sour cream.
3. 3 Add the egg and sour cream mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon.
4. 4 Batter will be very thick.
5. 5 Add the raisins and caraway seeds and stir well with wooden spoon or knead in with your hands.
6. 6 Place batter in a greased 9 inch springform pan.
7. 7 Dust the top with enough flour so that you can pat the batter like a bread dough evenly in the pan without it sticking to your hands.
8. 8 With a knife make a shallow crisscross on the top.
9. 9 Bake for 50 minutes in a preheated 350ºF oven.