Teeny McMunn: My Recipe Box

Since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, this came into my email. I’ve never made it before. Most breads I make are made with yeast. It’s in the oven as I type so we will see. I’m making my meatloaf dinner tonight.**The meatloaf turned out very flavorful, using 2 pounds of hamburger and 3 bratwurst, skins off and mixed in, then onions, egg, bread crumbs, Meatloaf seasoning, extra pepper, and garlic salt. Worthy of meatloaf sandwiches;)

The ‘real” Irish soda bread consists simply of Irish whole meal flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. At the other end of the spectrum is Americanized Irish soda bread, a white sweet, cake-like confection filled with raisins or currants and caraway seeds. This version is much closer to traditional Irish bread than its American cousin. Quoted from King Arthur Flour Company.

Since this recipe came from King Arthur Flour it mentioned its brand of flour, which I will omit and put in the type of flour suggested.

INGREDIENTS:

2 ½ c. Whole Wheat flour or Whole

meal Flour

1 ¼ c. unbleached bread flour

¼ c. (4 Tbsp) cold butter, cut into

8 pieces

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

1 1/3 c. buttermilk

1 large egg

2 Tbsp melted butter, optional

2/3 c. currants or raisins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease an 8” or 9” round pan

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt and currants or raisins.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. The dough will be stiff. If its too crumbly to squeeze together, add another tablespoon or two of buttermilk.

Knead the dough a couple of times to make sure its holding together, then shape it into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly, and place the loaf in your pan. Use a sharp knife to cut a ½” deep cross in the loaf.

Bake the bread for about 45 to 55 minutes, until golden brown and cake tester to toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and brush the top with melted butter, if desired. Best sliced with a serrated knife.

Store for about 2 days, well wrapped, at room temperature: freeze for longer storage, up to about a month.

MY NOTES:

It is a hardy bread. The crust is indeed “crusty”. I didn’t put the melted butter on top, but I did butter the top as I always do with any bread I make. I baked it in a square dark non- stick pan and I think that made it bake quicker. It was almost overdone at 45 minutes and the oven was at 375 degrees. The next time I make it, I will double the cranraisins, which I used instead of currants or raisins.

The dough is like a cookie dough and you do have to knead it together, but it seems to work. You might add a bit more buttermilk on the get-go to make it easier to work with.

ENJOY, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day.