Irish Soda Bread

Real Irish soda bread is great stuff. I know there are sweetened versions out there with raisins and such, but I was told that's the Americanized recipe and is way off-base. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that the savory way of making this bread is awesome. Crusty on the outside, tender on the inside, with a salty tang that's perfect with stews or soups. It's very addictive, almost like a cross between bread and a saltine cracker. I just started making it recently, and I only wish I had started earlier. It's amazing with butter and jam.

Let this bread cool down completely before serving it. You want to be able to slice it thinly; if you cut it when it's warm, it'll fall apart into chunks. It stores well at room temperature if kept in a gallon-sized freezer bag.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tblsp. salt. Yeah, it sounds like a lot. But the saltiness of this bread is part of what makes it awesome.
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 to 2 cups of buttermilk. I personally never have buttermilk on hand. I don't use enough to warrant buying it. Instead, you can just use regular milk and add two tablespoons of white vinegar to it. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to sour, and it's good to go.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the buttermilk and stir together to make a soft dough. Start with only 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk. If it needs more, add more until you get it to the right consistency.

Now, knead the dough. This bread is a quick bread, meaning it uses baking soda instead of yeast. Because of that, you want to be very careful to avoid overworking it. The more you work it, the less fluffy it becomes. Knead it on a lightly floured surface a couple of times, until you can feel the ingredients come together and the texture become smooth. It takes very few kneads, maybe 4-8 turns at the most. Once it's kneaded, form it into a ball. Then, take a sharp knife and cut a cross in the top of the dough. During baking, the cross will puff apart.

Put it on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the loaf is lightly brown and sounds hollow when you thump it.

Here's the soda bread served with the shepherd's pie and a dish of green cabbage sauteed with chicken broth. Yumm.