Happy St. Patrick's Day: Irish Soda Bread

It would be wrong on many levels if I failed to produce the traditional Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's Day.  I took a recipe from here and added to it a bit.  I had to; it didn't include the caraway seeds or raisins.  Both are a MUST if you're making Irish soda bread.  Otherwise it's not the real deal ; )

As always, I'm pleased with the way my Irish soda bread came out.  It's so good and full of flavor.  Normally I'm not into the flavor of caraway seeds but it goes so well with this bread.  And while the bread is good on its own, it never hurts to spread a little butter on your slices.

YUM!

IRISH SODA BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

3/4 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, caraway seeds, raisins, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

PERSONAL NOTES:

As I mentioned above I had to add the caraway seeds and raisins as the original recipe doesn't include them.  Which by the way, is unusual.  I've never had an Irish soda bread without those ingredients. 

Oh, and I chose to omit the butter mixture for the top of the loaf.  I thought it was fine without it.  So that's up to you.

Swope Bread. Sweet and hearty.

I really have to stop baking bread.  It's too damn good and I can't stop myself from eating (lots of) it.  I'm so drawn to it... check out the latest loaf I made: Swope Bread.  I've been tooling around online and I'm trying to figure out what is Swope Bread.  Any ideas?

All kidding aside, starting this week I am giving up bread.  Not forever, mind you, but just until I can have it without obsessing over it.  I can do it; I've done it before.  It's the getting there part that stinks :(  I have to keep in mind it's just healthier for me.

That said, this bread is wonderfully delicious and easy to make.  No waiting around for the yeast to kick in and rise the dough.  I estimate this bread takes about 10 minutes to prepare and another to bake.  Easy-peasy.
SWOPE BREAD

You can find the original recipe here from allrecipes.com - one of my favorite all-time food sites.  I've made so many things from this site.  YUM!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons baking soda

4 cups buttermilk

DIRECTIONS:



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, dissolve baking soda in buttermilk. Stir buttermilk into flour mixture. Beat well. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for one hour.

PERSONAL NOTES:
This recipe makes two loaves so I just halved it to make the one.  After all, it's bad enough I'm eating most of it on my own anyway... Oy.

Oh, I mixed half spelt flour and half all-purpose flour.  Spelt flour works wonderfully in breads.