Irish Soda Bread

When I was in second grade, my class held a “Heritage Day”, in which each student was to make and bring something from their family's background. Having recently discovered that I was part Irish, I of course wanted to make something from Ireland. I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled upon the idea to make Irish Beer Bread for my second grade class, but I did. And it was good. I can still taste it 15 years later. I wish I’d had a camcorder then to record the parents’ faces when they saw that a second-grader had brought beer bread.

And so you can imagine my disappointment on Monday to discover that the recipe had grown legs and walked—stumbled-- out of my mom’s recipe box. I was planning my TND for the week, and needed something to accompany the Irish Beef Stew with Guinness and Apples Duff I was already excited about making.

Irish Soda Bread has long been a favorite, and this time was no different. It is a dense bread with the distinct flavor of baking soda (did you know that baking soda had a flavor?). After a bit of research, I learned that the “X” cut into the top of the bread is not for design, but for practical use. When the bread was first created—sometime around the 1820s, with the invention of baking soda—cutting utensils where not always readily available to the poor Irish in the United States. The “X” was cut deep so that when the bread baked it was already perforated for easy tearing into servings.

If anyone has a great recipe for Irish Beer Bread, please pass it on!

Irish Soda Bread

3 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with greased parchment paper, or grease and lightly flour baking sheet.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly stir in buttermilk until mixture forms a ball. You may need to add another tablespoon or so of buttermilk. Place mixture onto a lighly floured surface, knead for 1 minute until dough incorporates into a ball. Transfer dough to baking sheet. With a knife, cut an “X” across the top of the dough, about 1-2 inches deep.
Bake 40 minutes, until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. This bread is best served hot out of the oven (then again, I’m not sure what bread isn’t).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!