Allison Cafe

Mar
18
2009

Irish Soda Bread with Raisins and Caraway

Well, my Irish Soda Bread was a success yesterday! A little history about the bread I have learned:

It traditionally does not include raisins or caraway seeds, or even eggs! Irish soda bread is just flour, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt. That’s the basic recipe. Soda bread was created in the early 1800s and it was made in a large cast-iron pot or skillet. It meant you did not have to have an oven to make soda bread. While this recipe below does instruct to bake it in the oven, there are other traditional recipes out there which call for the traditional method and ingredients, see here for more information. I absolutely love the texture and taste of the recipe below. The buttermilk makes the bread very moist; and if you like raisins, you will love the sweetness that they bring to this simple and easy to make bread.

Irish Soda Bread

Bon Appétit | October 2002 Patrice Bedrosian, Brewster, New York
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 5 cups all purpose flour ( I used a combination of white and wheat flours – it can be made with either)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups raisins
• 3 tablespoons caraway seeds (I only used 2 tablespoons so as not to make the flavor overpowering)
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg

DIRECTIONS

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter heavy ovenproof 10- to 12-inch-diameter skillet with 2- to 2 1/2-inch-high sides. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Add butter; using fingertips, rub in until coarse crumbs form. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Whisk buttermilk and egg in medium bowl to blend. Add to dough; using wooden spoon, stir just until well incorporated (dough will be very sticky).

Transfer dough to prepared skillet; smooth top, mounding slightly in center. Using small sharp knife dipped into flour, cut 1-inch-deep X in top center of dough. Bake until bread is cooked through and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool bread in skillet 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in foil; store at room temperature.)