Irish Soda Bread is a great quick bread. The beauty of this bread is that there is no need to wait for it to rise because the “baking soda” does all the rising work for you. All you need is a bowl to mix all the ingredients, do a quick kneed just to pull the dough together and then it is ready for the oven. This bread is also best eaten the day of, but you can also store it in a zip lock bag and it will last 2-3 days.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 cup of raisins or currents (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a large bowl mix, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together.
3. Then in a liquid measuring cup mix buttermilk with the egg.
4. Pour buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and mix with your hands until fully combined. The dough will feel sticky. (If including raisins add and mix well now.)
5. Turn out the dough on a floured surface. Knead and shape the dough for about 30 seconds. This is more to get the dough in the shape you want. You do not want to over knead.
6. Place the dough in a cast iron or baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. With a sharp knife cut an “x” on the top of the dough.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
9. Let cool and enjoy!

 Check out my reel on Instagram.

Warmly,

                      Elizabeth 

Photos by: Anna Pata