Irish Soda Bread, Mash-Up

This recipe is a bit of a mash-up. The main bones of it came from an old co-worker of my husband’s. Old as in, a co-worker a long time ago, not that he was old. Hats off Dana–this is amazing bread! But over the years that I have made it, I have added few tweaks and changes. Sometimes the changes come out of desperation, and sometimes inspiration. C’est la vie!

One thing to note is that this is definitely soda bread, not a yeasted dough. It gets its rise from soda and powder.  It is somewhat similar to a biscuit dough but has less fat.  You do want to work it very little like a biscuit dough, as that will result in a tender bread.  Definitely what you are going for here!

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Irish Soda Bread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup or 1/2 stick of butter diced small
  • 1 egg slightly beaten
  • 1 3/4 cup buttermilk room temp if possible
  • 1 1/2 cups currants or raisins--that was in the original and they work great.
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

  1. In a bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender/two knives/the back of a fork. You want small pieces and for the butter and flour mixture to look crumbly. Add the currants.

  2. Measure your buttermilk and add the zest and the egg. Pour your buttermilk mixture into your dry ingredients with a large spoon until well blended, but you don’t want to beat the dough–you want to treat it gently.

  3. Dump your sticky wet dough onto a well-floured surface and divide in half. Shape each half of the dough into a round loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make a deep cross into the top of each loaf, about 1/2 inch deep and bake for about 35 minutes to 40 minutes, till golden brown and it sounds hollow when you tap on the bread. Let cool for 10 minutes or more before cutting and serving with lots of butter. Mmmmmm.