St. Patrick's Day Irish-American Soda Bread
Irish-American soda bread is a sweeter, lighter, more interesting riff on the original Irish soda bread, a simple combination of flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. No eggs, no sugar, no raisins or caraway seeds... all of those came later. And in America, land of "too much is just enough," the formula became richer still, with the addition of butter, and yet more sugar. The following soda bread tastes like a sweet, rich scone, a tiny bit crumbly but moist enough to hold together nicely when it's sliced. We bake it in a tall, round pan, to give it its classic shape. Though you can use raisins or currants, we prefer the tinier currants, as they spread themselves more evenly throughout the loaf.
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1/2 cup yogurt)
1 cup (5 ounces) currants or golden raisins, firmly packed
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon milk, for glaze
1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for topping
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, and beat on high speed until the mixture is thick and light-colored, about 2 minutes. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then 1 cup of the flour. Gently beat in half the buttermilk (or milk/yogurt mixture), then another cup of the flour. Add the remainder of the buttermilk, and the final cup of flour, mixing until smooth. Stir in the currants and caraway seeds.
Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 8" x 3 1/2" round pan (or a 9" x 3" round pan), one whose capacity is at least 5 1/2 cups. A souffle pan or panettone pan is a good choice. Drizzle the milk atop the batter, and sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake the bread in a preheated 325°F oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Tent a sheet of aluminum foil over the top for the final 15 minutes, if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the bread from the oven, wait about 5 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a rack to cool. Allow the bread to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Yield: about 12 servings.
Alternatively, spoon the batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake the bread in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Reviews
03/12/2009
I made this bread 4 times. Each time was better than the one before. I have given the bread as gifts to my Irish friends, including my family. It is the best I ever had. I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you again for your great recipes.
03/13/2009
This bread is pretty easy to put together and rises nicely. I baked it in a round glass dish and it came out beautiful! The taste is very sweet- a little more sweet than I prefer and almost a bit cake like. I had prepared this to go along with a St. Patty's Day corned beef dinner. Althought I wasn't a huge fan on the cake like texture and sweetness my husband thought it paired well with the saltiness of corned beef and thought it was the best Irish Soda Bead I had ever made! I did alter the recipe with dried blueberries verses the currants. I added all the raisins though and caraway seeds. I think it could use a little more caraway seeds. Next time I will measure out the caraway on the heavy side.
03/19/2009
I sent this bread over to Irish Americans who love Irish Soda bread and they sent a FAX within the hour saying it was "Excellent!" I think it's great, but their expert opinion made me want to let you know.
03/19/2009
This recipe is outstanding! I'm only sorry I didn't rate it last year when I made it. Maybe more people would try it. This year, I doubled the recipe but I cut down on the sugar a bit as I was serving it with dinner -a heaping cup (remember this is doubled). I used golden raisins and baked it in a 9 inch cake pan. Also, with doubling, be sure the raisins are mixed well. One loaf definitely had more than the other. Try this, you will most certainly be glad you did.
03/24/2009
I just took this out of the oven and it looks wonderful; the smell is divine! I can't wait to taste it. It went together very easily and baked according to the directions. I baked it in a round 2qt casserole dish. The batter was cake like and I didn't brush it with milk, but did sprinkle it with sugar. Just from the aroma I'm thinking that this might end up being more dessert like than an accompaniment to dinner. I will post again once we eat it...which will hopefully be soon :)
03/26/2009
Okay, I promised to write again once I tasted the bread... I just loved it. I did think it was a little sweet to serve with dinner, but that said I thought it was just delicious. DH just raved about it. He has been taking a very large slice to work with him every morning. I don't know about anyone else but I found the texture to be like that of a quick bread and/or tea bread. It is just a perfect slice to have in the afternoon with some tea/coffee. This recipe has been added to my personal recipe file and will be enjoyed in our house for years to come! Try it!
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