Irish Soda Bread
Note: You can make a buttermilk equivalent by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to one
cup of regular milk or skim milk. Acid helps make the bread rise.
Ingredients: Utensils:
4 cups flour one large and wide bowl
¼ cup sugar one small bowl
1 teaspoon baking soda bread board
1 teaspoon salr measuring cup
3 teaspoon baking powder measuring spoons
1/8 teaspoon cardamom whisk or spoon
1 7/8 cups buttermilk baking pan
4 tablespoons butter
1 egg
Mix the dry ingredients. Use a large bowl. Start with four cups of flour (you will use more than four cups before
you are done) in the large bowl. Mix in the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cardamon Dice the butter
into small cubes and then work it into the dry ingredients until all of the lumps are gone. This distributes the
butter throughout the dough and insures all of the other ingredients are well mixed also.
Mix the egg (whites and yolk) into the buttermilk using the small bowl. Use a whisk or spoon to break the yolk
and mix well. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Mix by hand (get your hands in the dough).
Add small amounts of flour as needed. You can work the wet dough off your hands using a little more dry flour.
Keep working the dough until it doesn't stick to your fingers anymore.
Spread some flour on the bread board. Work the dough into a log about 12 inches long. Do not work this too long;
it doesn't have to be perfect. Cut the dough log into two equal pieces. Each piece will make one loaf of bread.
Use a non-stick baking pan if you have one. Otherwise, you should grease the pan. Take one piece of the dough
log and flatten it into a rectangle or circle about one inch thick. Cut a cross into the dough. The knife should
just touch the pan thru the dough. Do not try to separate the dough in this process. The cross is necessary to
make the loaf more symmetric as it defines the places where the crust will split as the bread rises.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. You can bake this bread in a toaster oven.
The fresh bread is soft, almost like cake. If you keep the bread in the refrigerator for 24 hours, it will become
more firm so you can slice it quite thinly for sandwiches. You can also experiment with different types of flour
and additions such as raisins for variety.
submitted by Ken Young