Irish Soda Bread
For a long time I was of the mind that Irish Soda Bread had to be made as frugally as possible. Just some flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. As it’s a peasant’s bread, I was not too far off. Being 99.6% Irish myself, I felt as if I was betraying the struggle of my ancestors to be as “extra” as to add EGGS and SUGAR to my Irish Soda Bread. Oh, the horrors! “They didn’t have an egg to spare”, I argued with myself. “And they certainly didn’t have sugar”.
For me, Irish Soda Bread was the bread I would make for my kids after all the eggs were gone. And certainly, if you eat it right out of the oven, you’d hardly miss the luxuries of eggs and sugar.
So, making an Irish bread with eggs and sugar is a very big step forward for me. And I must say, it was divine. It lasted a little longer on the counter – and was even very good reheated out of the fridge a few days later.
In summary, if you are feeding a big group of hungry kids who will eat this bread right out of the oven and you need to reserve your eggs for another recipe, a simpler version of this bread will do just fine. But if you want to be fancy, go with this recipe. It’s delicious.
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, or in the bowl of your heavy-duty mixer, combine and mix all the dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl beat the eggs. Add the buttermilk to the eggs and whisk well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form into a round mound, using additional flour to coat the dough so it's sticky on the inside and handle-able on out outside.
- Place the dough on a baking pan and score a big "X" on the top with a knife.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes. Best when served while still warm and with plenty of butter.