Adventures in Baking #4: Irish Soda Bread

Each year, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day with our dearest friends. Jim and Denise make the most delicious corned beef and cabbage you could ever savor, and Mike and I are responsible for three things: dessert, beer, and Irish soda bread. For  years, we've ordered the soda bread from one of Mike's co-workers, but she has decided to stop baking and selling. What a perfect opportunity to add Irish soda bread to my Adventures in Baking series.

This was absurdly easy to make. Unlike leavened breads, which are amazing but time consuming, this bread was assembled and baked in the same morning. It was dense, moist, and beautiful. Don't wait until next March to try it.

You need:

•  1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 4 and 1/4 cups flour
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 and 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1 cup raisins (I used half golden, half Thompson)
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a 8-10 inch oven safe skillet or dutch oven with butter or nonstick spray. A baking sheet will also do, though the bread may spread out a bit more. Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl. Set aside. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two forks/knives, or your fingers. Work the dough until into coarse crumbs, then fold in the raisins with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Gently fold the dough together until dough is too stiff to stir. With floured hands, work the dough into a ball as best you can. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead the dough for about 30 seconds or until all the flour is moistened. Dough will be sticky, but if it is absolutely too sticky add a little more flour as needed. Do not over knead. Transfer the dough to the prepared skillet/pan. Using a lightly buttered serrated knife, score an X on the top. Bake until the bread is golden brown and center appears cooked through, about 45 minutes. Loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil if you notice heavy browning on top about halfway through bake time. Remove skillet/pan from the oven and allow bread to cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. It's best with a really great Irish butter or my own marmalade.