Tommorow is St. Patrick’s Day, and I wanted to bake something for the occasion.  I almost went with shamrock-shaped sugar cookies, but I’ve been baking so many sweets lately (and just bought some Girl Scout cookies) so I decided I should make something more traditional:
Irish Soda Bread.

On Friday, I was at Panera and noticed theirs… they make the kind with caraway seed and raisins in it.  After I looked up a few recipes, I learned that the traditional Irish Soda Bread does not have raisins or caraway seeds.. it is a much plainer bread.   

I was excited to find this recipe because the only thing I needed to buy at the store was buttermilk!  I included a hint at the bottom about a substitute for cake flour, which saved me from having to buy that.

Classic Irish Soda Bread
from “Cooks Illustrated”

- 3 c. bleached all-purpose flour
- 1 c. cake flour
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together.  Turn out onto flour-coated work surface; knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)

Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in cast-iron pot, if using.  Place the loaf on a cookie sheet and cut a cross shape into the top  Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.

* note: If you don’t have cake flour, I found this formula online to make your own:  for each cup of regular flour, remove 2 tablespoons of it, and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

I made two loafs: I’m thinking of taking one to work tommorow.  Hopefully everyone will like it.  It’s good with butter or jam on it.

P.S. I created a recipe archive page on the right side of my blog.  I’m hoping to blog more about the food I’m making and the recipes I try.  You guys all probably think I bake all the time and never cook.  I love cooking, but I think it’s harder to photograph meals to look appealing than cute little cookies or cakes, and who wants to see it if it’s ugly?  I’m going to work on it.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 5:23 pm and is filed under cooking + baking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.