How to Make Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day

Irish soda bread is a classic St. Patrick's Day tradition. Whether served for breakfast or eaten as a snack, soda bread is a delicious, moist treat. Make it this St. Patrick's Day to lend an air of authenticity to your celebrations.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup raisins
• Loaf pan
• Wire rack
• Foil

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Grease the loaf pan, making sure to coat all sides evenly. If your loaf pan is old, dust the inside with a little flour to make it easier to pull the loaf out of the pan later.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, baking soda, egg and buttermilk together. Be sure to mix the ingredients until they are smooth. Add the butter and raisins and mix the batter again.

3. Pour the dough into the pan and bake for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Cool the Irish soda bread on a wire rack as soon as you're able to remove it from the pan. The bread is dense, so put it on a sturdy rack.

5. Wrap the bread in foil after the bread is completely cool. The bread will get its best taste 4 to 8 hours after it has been baked. Serve covered in corned beef or as something with which to soak up green beer.

Tips & Warnings

• Make your Irish soda bread the day before or hours before you plan to serve it. The bread tastes best if it sits around for a while.
• If you want a slightly different, more authentic soda bread, use European butter and substitute caraway seeds for raisins.
• If you forget to buy buttermilk, substitute it with 2 cups of milk and 2 tbsp. of cider vinegar. This will make the bread more dessert-like, but will save the rest of your batter if you're unable to go to the store.
• Don't add extra liquid to this bread. This recipe makes slightly fluffier Irish soda bread. If you add more liquid, you won't be able to toast the bread in a vertical toaster without the bread falling apart.
• Don't substitute beer for buttermilk. While it may seem like a good idea in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, the taste and texture of the bread will be ruined.

[butrflygdss]

on 3/12/2008 Traditional Irish Soda Bread is not baked in a loaf pan, is your recipe dough like or batter like? Would I be able to knead and form into a round loaf and bake that way. Also, you need to x the dough to let the fairies out.