Irish Soda Bread

A few weeks ago, I made Irish Soda Bread. I'd made it before, but it had been a number of years. I didn't have the recipe I'd used before, so I started with the one from the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, which seemed similar to what I remembered.

White Soda Bread

• 4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 14 oz of buttermilk

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan.
• In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.
• Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)
• Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.
• Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
• The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.
• Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Instead of buttermilk, I used 12 ounces of milk that I soured with 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.

I made it a few times, and decided that it wasn't enough salt, so I added another 1/2 teaspoon.

I tried it with whole wheat flour, it was really tasty that way. I'm planning on trying other flours as well.

All-in-all, a really simple, quick, easy, and cheap bread, that ends up quite tasty. I usually leave it on the cutting board and put a bowl over it to make it last a little longer, I haven't tried the tea towel method yet.

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