As we get closer to St. Patrick’s Day, next Monday, March 17, I'm sharing this easy recipe for rustic Irish soda bread today. Soda bread and colcannon make great side dishes for corned beef and cabbage, or even an Irish stew.
The corned beef and cabbage recipe from last year, and the colcannon recipe from last week are both linked to this article.)
The hardest part about today's recipe, should you decide to give it a try, will likely be finding buttermilk!
4 cups of flour
1/2 cup of softened butter
3 tablespoons of brown sugar (with no lumps!)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of buttermilk (if you can find the really good locally produced buttermilk, it is worth the splurge)
1 large egg
1/8 cup of butter, melted
Optional - 1/4 cup of raisins
Or, optional 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of caraway seeds
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking sheet with a light coating of oil.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix or whisk until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Add the softened butter and, using a fork, integrate the butter into the flour mixture until well mixed.
Combine one cup of buttermilk and one egg in a separate bowl and mix together. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and combine until a soft dough forms.
Knead the dough gently 9-10 times until smoother, keeping in mind that this is a rustic dough and will appear so. If you are adding raisins or caraway seeds, integrate these now.
Shape the dough into a ball. Using a knife, make an X on the top of the dough, and brush with melted butter.
Transfer to your prepared baking sheet and bake for about an hour.
This bread is heavenly with butter, honey and hot tea!
Enjoy and Erin Go Bragh!
Shannon Beigert is a chef and baker who loves entertaining guests at her Olympia home. If you want to let her know that this recipe worked well for you, send her a note at shannon@theJOLTnews.com
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