Irish Soda Bread recipe

Rather than responding to John Treder in another topic, I thought I would post my favorite recipe for Irish Soda Bread. It occurs to me that we are hearing about O'bama's visit to Ireland in the news as I type this -- but nobody needs any special reason to make this bread. It is super easy (not a yeast bread) and just tastes deliciously wholesome. Frankly there are really very few recipes that get repeated and repeated after a try in our kitchen and this is one of them.

What is interesting is that when St Patrick's Day rolls around, you can easily buy what is labeled as "Irish Soda Bread" but I consider most of it an abomination. It is sweet, kind of crunchy like a biscuit, and full of raisins and other junk.

I wanted a subtle, wholesome loaf that would pair nicely with cheese or salmon. I also had some Kerrigold Irish butter, which turned out to be spectacular with the bread we made. The butter has a flavor that reminds me of clotted cream.

At any rate the recipe is here:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000522965

And Louise used a round loaf pan so the product looked exactly like the picture in the URL. Because soda bread is not a yeast risen bread, you basically throw it together like a cake and cook it. And the wholesome rich flavor comes from 2/3 brown whole wheat flour plus some rolled oats. Louise used some buttermilk and Kerrigold butter in the bread as well.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup regular or quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
Milk
Preparation
1. In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture forms fine crumbs. Stir in whole-wheat flour and oats.

2. Add yogurt; stir gently. If mixture is too dry to hold together, stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, just until dough holds together; it should not be sticky.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 5 times to make a ball. Set on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pat into a 7-inch circle. With a floured knife, cut a large X on top of loaf.

4. Bake in a 375° oven until well browned, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or cool.

That looks so good that I'm going to have to make it.

John

[Jenise]

I've made soda bread once or twice in the past, Frank, and not especially liked the result. Can't recall now what was wrong, but I love wholesome, grainy, unsweet stuff, so in concept soda bread should be something I'd love. Glad to have a reason to try again with a recipe someone else with good taste reccomends, I'll try it soon. Thanks!