When our children lived with us, we made somewhat of a celebration of St. Patrick's Day and would always rehearse his history and selfless contributions that he made to the Irish people in his lifetime. Then we always had corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and Irish Soda Bread for dinner!
Now that it is just my husband and me, I have opted for making a batch of Irish Soda Bread. I just ate some. It is wonderful and I wanted to share my most recent method and recipe with you, Gentle Readers.
IRISH SODA BREAD
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a bowl, combine the following
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I love King Arthur's)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Whisk that together well, then...
Grate in 3 Tablespoons of COLD butter, mixing it in with your fingers, a bit at a time.
Then, combine the following:
3/4 cup plain full-fat yogurt (my favorite is Dannon)
1/4 cup whole milk
Add the liquid, all at once, to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork.
The dough needs to be moist but not sloppy. Adjust the amount of flour, or add a little more milk if needed.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and only knead it a LITTLE BIT. Just enough to get it into sort of a big round thing. Don't work it much, as it will get tougher then.
Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press into a 7 inch circle. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top.
Place the baking sheet into your oven and bake for 30 minutes. When it is getting browned, it is done. Don't over bake.
Remove and allow to cool on the pan.
Slice, serve with butter and enjoy!
Beautiful! I love this time of year, so many new things to enjoy with winter being over. Your bread looks wonderful and sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melynda! It really is yummy.
DeleteI like corned beef and cabbage and we make it every year. When we have had enough of the beef part and eaten all the vegetables I chop up the beef and freeze in packets to make corned beef hash the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteWe have gone through 2 loaves of Irish soda bread so far this season. Yours looks different. One recipe I tried had it baked in a loaf pan and another recipe was the round loaf with the slashed top. But they both had currants in the recipe. I always use a recipe that has currants.
We're not Irish or follow saints etc, we just like to have fun trying different foods.
Thanks, Athanasia. I, too, have seen several recipes. This one is very similar to the one a friend gave me several decades ago and is my favorite. I considered buying some corned beef, but we just bought a whole hog for the freezer and I couldn't bring myself to spend more on meat! The most important part of the meal to me is the bread anyway. :)
DeleteI read on the Northwest Edible Life blog how to make corned beef from scratch, but too late as to try it this year. Is there such a thing as a pig brisket so you could make with pork rather than beef?
DeleteI like the bread a lot. The recipe that said to use the loaf pan was moister than most loaves and would not have held its shape freeform on a cookie sheet. Some recipes said to use caraway, which I like in rye bread but never add to Irish soda.
That's an interesting question. The "brisket" on a pig, as far as I can tell, would be a "shoulder roast." I wonder how that would turn out! It might be worth a try and I do have some small pieces of roast in the freezer.
DeleteWell check her blog, she uses language I wouldn't but overlooking that she is amazingly clear with instructions for DIY products. I am going to try the corned beef next year.
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