Guess what!?
I’m off to Ireland this evening! David and I are going to spend 10 days driving, hiking, exploring and photographing all over the country. I can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get back, but for now I will leave you with this recipe I made in preparation for my trip: Irish Soda Bread!
Soda bread is a quick bread that uses baking soda (hence the name) instead of yeast as a rising agent. It is an easy bread to make, since there is barely any kneading (10 times!) and no waiting for it to rise or anything; just mix and bake. It became popular in Ireland when baking soda was brought there and is still popular today.
When this first came out of the oven I thought I did something wrong, because it was kinda lumpy and ugly looking. But then I google-imaged Irish soda bread and I realized that it’s supposed to look like that!
So see you all in 10 days, and until then you have Jessica to keep you company. Don’t fret, she has a lot of interesting duck recipes for you!
Irish Soda Bread from Food & Wine
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Whisk all of the dry ingredients together.
- Add the buttermilk and cooled butter and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 10 times.
- Shape it dough into a 9-inch round loaf and transfer to a baking sheet. Slash an X about 1/4 inch deep in the top of the bread.
- Bake for about 1 hour, or until the bread is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
