Irish Soda Bread

In honor of St. Patrick's Day over the weekend, I made Irish Soda Bread. I, obviously, am not Irish. Scott is, but Scott is also a small percentage of almost every European nation. Seriously, my kids are like their own European Union. Anyway, I was already making corned beef (my annual beef exception) and potatoes (no cabbage, I don't do cabbage unless it's in a delicious fried eggroll) so I thought I would make some Irish Soda Bread to go with it. I found this recipe on my beloved Pinterest (which you should follow me on because I pin awesome things) and it was soooooooo good.


You need:

3 cups whole-wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, chilled and cut into bits
3 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt, thinned with milk to the consistency of buttermilk

Here's what to do:

Preheat oven to 375˚ F.

In a large bowl, stir together the flours, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and blend (or pulse the mixture in the food processor) until well combined and crumbly. If you like, add grated cheese, herbs, nuts or dried fruit at this point. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the buttermilk, stirring until blended.

Knead the dough until it comes together in one piece, then knead the ball 10 times. Cut in half and shape into two round loaves. Place each in a buttered 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.

Bake for 1 hour, or until golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes two loaves.

I so did not knead the dough by hand. I whipped out the mixmaster and my dough hook, it was so much easier. The bread was crazy delicious and I will probably make it many many more times.