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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Irish Soda Bread


This bread is very rustic and wholesome. It compliments a fresh pot of Irish Stew or any hearty soup. Most authentic irish soda breads are made with whole wheat flour and contain raisins, however you can change it up to add nuts and spices or go the herb route adding flavours of dill, tarragon, rosemary and thyme. Keeping with tradition, this bread is made with whole wheat flour, raisins and caraway seeds. This was my first time making bread without using a bread machine, and was rather pleased with the results. It also toasted well the next day for morning raisin bread.


1 cup mixed raisins or currants (or all raisins), plumped
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 T organic honey
1 tsp salt
1 T caraway seeds
6 T cold, unsalted butter, diced
1 1/4 cups (add more if needed) buttermilk
1/4 cup Bran and about 4-5 T of oatmeal for dusting the outside (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Double up two baking sheets and line top one with parchment paper.

Prepare raisins by plumping in very hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain, dry well and set aside.

Whisk together all dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients by hand.

Add buttermilk and honey and mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto floured work surface and gently knead 8 times or so, to firm up dough.

Let rest 10 minutes.

Shape into a 8 inch round. Place on baking sheet. Score loaf with a knife (1/2 inch deep cuts) to make a cross. Dust with white flour, bran, or oatmeal flakes. Bake 35-45 minutes until well-browned.

Cool on a rack for about 10 mins.

Serves 8-10.

This was entered in the BreadBakingDay Event presented by Wild Yeast Blog.




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5 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome bread truly not what I was expecting, and it was great toasted the next day.

And nice pic it looks like you might be a model in a beautiful slope side condo or something. Too bad you are married to a storm trooper or maybe its a good thing.

SBP said...

That is a good pic of you!

Anonymous said...

Nice bread!!! BTW: I do faithfully read your blog... I just don't leave messages because I don't have a username. I'll start posting as anonymous!

Kerri

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful soda bread. I like the combination of raisins and currants, and the high proportion of whole wheat flour. And congratulations on going machine-less this time! Thanks for participating in BreadBakingDay.

SaraLynn said...

This looks amazing! May I have a slice please?

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