With St. Patrick’s Day being right around the corner, I thought this recipe would be appropriate. I’ve been known to make Irish Soda Bread in fall nowhere near St. Patrick’s Day because it is so delicious. This is a 5-star recipe on Food Network and I promise you it isn’t hard to make at all.

Irish Soda Bread

(from Sara’s Secrets on Food Network – recipe courtesy Brother Rick Curry, The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking, HaperPerannial, 1995)

Cook Time: 1 hour          Yield: 2 Loaves

Ingredients:

• 5 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
• 2 1/2 cups mixed light and dark raisins (I use the regular Sun-maid Raisins), soaked in water for 15 to 20 minutes and drained
• 3 tablespoons caraway seeds
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with milk and lemon juice, see how to here)
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter 2 (9 by 5-inch) bread pans.

Stir together the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the butter and mix very thoroughly with your hands until it gets grainy. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds.

Add the buttermilk and egg to the flour mixture. Stir until well moistened. Shape dough into 2 loaves and place in the pans.

Bake for 1 hour.  Cool in the pans for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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