Irish Soda Bread Recipe Food 52

This bread is incredibly easy and delicious. It has a cakey texture that makes it great with tea or coffee. No toasting, butter, or jam needed. Resist the temptation to slice it when it's still warm. It will crumble under your hands, so let it cool completely.

The recipe has gone unchanged for decades. My grandmother Peggy brought it to the USA when she emigrated from Ireland, adapting the recipe from the brown flour used at home to the white flour used here. Baked plain without raisins, it was a household staple year-round. Probably because raisins were costly during Peggy’s childhood in Ireland, she said they were reserved for special occasions (the code words for funerals). But in America, she made this with raisins for her grandchildren, bless her, every week.

Soda bread may have raisins or caraway seed but traditionally not both together. The preference for raisins over caraway was just a regional preference or family tradition.

Grandma's Irish Soda Bread

The best tips I can offer are to use fresh ingredients, especially the baking powder and baking soda, look for juicy raisins without preservatives where possible, and bake in a 10- or 11-inch round, ceramic, or glass baking dish. A round, straight-sided dish is best (not a pie dish with slanted sides). You could substitute a metal cake pan, but not a very dark metal non-stick pan, because the top will likely burn before the interior of the loaf is cooked. —Pegeen

Once cooked, the soda bread needs patience; it needs to cool not only in the pan but out because if you cut the bread too soon, it will crumble. Your patience, however, will be rewarded when you cut your first slice and it remains intact just waiting for you to cover it in a little (Irish) butter or a fresh fruit jam and, don't forget the cup of tea.

If you can't eat the loaf right away, wrap it carefully in foil or pop it into an airtight container as it tends to dry out quickly. The bread also freezes if well-wrapped and kept in the freezer for no longer than a month or two. Let the loaf defrost slowly before warming slightly in a medium-hot oven for 10 minutes to refresh it. —The EditorsMy grandma says we’re mostly Irish when, in fact, we’re mostly German. She has a proclivity for Irish things: Namely her beloved Irish Wolfhound Eddie and her insistence about being addressed by her maiden name Conway (my sister named her dog Conway after my grandma), and Irish soda bread.

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Tucked away amongst the recipes for mac and cheese, macaroni salad, and super vinegary vinaigrette in the family cookbook my grandma assembled is one for Irish soda bread. The quick bread is made from some sort of combination of baking soda, flour, salt, and buttermilk. It’s leavened not with yeast (hence, quick bread), but from the chemical reaction between the baking soda and acidic buttermilk—producing a loaf that’s spongy more than fluffy, dense, and with a sweet, somewhat tangy flavor.

My favorite way to eat Irish soda bread is slathered with salted butter and perhaps some jam. Which, is perfect since it’s quick enough to be made for breakfast and easy enough you could make it even in a sleepy state.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. If using the butter, add that in like you would for biscuits, rubbing it into the flour. If not, proceed to prepping the mix-ins.

Best Irish Soda Bread With Raisins Recipe

Put your add-ins of choice into a separate bowl and toss with a tablespoon of the dry mix to break up any clumps of ingredients. Then, add the mix-ins to the dried mix and combine.

Pour in your buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon (it’ll be sticky) until a dough forms. If the dough seems too wet, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add a little more buttermilk. (Feel the dough, be the dough.) Then, transfer to a flour-dusted surface and knead for about 2 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet that’s been lightly dusted with flour. Pat it into a 7-inch round and, using a sharp knife, make about an inch-deep “X” on top of the loaf.

Easy Irish Soda Bread Pudding With Currants, Apple & Pecans

Bake at 425° F for 30 to 45 minutes, until the loaf is browned and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap on it. Cool for a bit for eating—if possible. I can never do this though, preferring it warm, with lots of salted butter smeared on top.

Put your add-ins of choice into a separate bowl and toss with a tablespoon of the dry mix to break up any clumps of ingredients. Then, add the mix-ins to the dried mix and combine.

Pour in your buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon (it’ll be sticky) until a dough forms. If the dough seems too wet, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add a little more buttermilk. (Feel the dough, be the dough.) Then, transfer to a flour-dusted surface and knead for about 2 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet that’s been lightly dusted with flour. Pat it into a 7-inch round and, using a sharp knife, make about an inch-deep “X” on top of the loaf.

Easy Irish Soda Bread Pudding With Currants, Apple & Pecans

Bake at 425° F for 30 to 45 minutes, until the loaf is browned and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap on it. Cool for a bit for eating—if possible. I can never do this though, preferring it warm, with lots of salted butter smeared on top.