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Soda Bread

Thu., March 16, 2006

Our department has some hardcore Irish in it so celebrations are aplenty on St. Patrick’s Day. Even at work, it’s a daylong feast of food, decorations and silly hats.

I was directed today to bring in food tomorrow so I emailed Dana in Dublin to get an authentic Irish recipe for “cookies or bread type items.” She responded with this one, supplied by an actual Irish lady who made it for Dana and her housemates.

Soda Bread

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/2 cup dried fruit
  • 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, then stir in the salt, sugar, and fruit. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Mix lightly with a broad-bladed knife or wooden spoon to form a loose dough.
  2. Turn the dough onto a floured baking sheet and shape into a round, flat loaf. Brush it with butter and cut a big cross in the dough with a knife. Place in a preheated oven at 400° for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 300° and bake for a further 30 minutes, but keep an eye on it until it’s golden brown and crisp to the touch.
  3. Remove from the oven, turn out, wrap in a clean towel, and place on a wire rack to cool.

I converted the heathen Celsius and metric system measurements to American and discovered that the recipe’s original call for “caster sugar” is the same as superfine sugar. (Then I found actual caster sugar at an Upper West Side grocer and bought it even though it was $7 for a pound bag.) Also, the original recipe called for butter but didn’t say what to do with it other than spread it on the finished slices; instead, I melted it and threw it on the dough before baking to enhance taste and browning.

Initially I was concerned that the recipe didn’t contain any baking soda as I thought soda bread would, but a hasty Google revealed three things:

  1. Both baking powder and baking soda are leavening agents, which make bread rise.
  2. Just like meatloaf, everyone and her mother has her own recipe for soda bread.
  3. The reason you cut a cross in the dough is to let the fairies out.

I found other soda bread recipes with baking powder and not baking soda, baking soda and not baking powder, and some with both. Some had eggs, some didn’t. Some skipped out on the sugar. Others insisted on caraway seeds. And there were many passionate bids for specific dried fruits. I chose an even mix of Zante currants and unsulphured dried apricots, which I diced and floured so they didn’t stick together.

Soda Bread.

Other than the buttering, I stuck to the recipe and I think it was a success. It resulted in what resembles a small UFO-sized scone, which isn’t a bad thing by me. We’ll see how it survives a subway journey downtown and the judgment of my coworkers.

Tags: Ireland, Photo, Recipe | Comments have been closed.

On March 18, 2006 at 2:18 a.m., Andie Hine wrote:

sounds tasty!