Recipe Monday: Irish Soda Bread

     Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. Hopefully you remember. Hopefully you're in some condition to go about your day.

Hopefully, it's not this bad.

     I, however, was the picture of moderation. Mostly. I had to be since I was cooking dinner. I made my standard corned beef and cabbage, but I tried a couple new things this year. I made colcannon and soda bread. I don't normally do the baking in the house. That usually falls to my wife or her mom. Both are very good bakers. I puttered around the internet and eventually found a recipe on the Huffington Post, of all places. I made a minor substitution, and made the buttermilk from scratch.  Milk and lemon juice! Who knew? As always, substitutions and additions are highlighted in blue.  The result was slightly sweet and extremely delicious. I can easily see myself making this bread at any time during the year, not just as a whiskey sponge. 

Irish Soda Bread
(via Ian Knauer on the Huffington Post)

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons caraway seed (I used 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seeds)
• 1 3/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter and flour a large baking sheet, knocking off excess flour.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until the butter is pea-sized lumps. 
3. Add raisins and caraway, then add buttermilk and stir just until dough is evenly moistened but still lumpy.
4. Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and gently knead with floured hands about 8 times to form a soft but slightly less sticky dough, then form into a ball. Pat dough ball into a domed 8-inch round on baking sheet. Cut a 1/2-inch-deep X on top of each loaf with a sharp knife.
5. Bake in the middle of oven until golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, 45 to 55 minutes. 
6. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

Good times!