Becky’s Almost Irish Soda Bread
This is a step away from the traditional Irish Soda Bread recipe but has a great flavor combination of caraway and raisins in it.
Servings: 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour scooped and leveled with a knife
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 1 ½ cup buttermilk
- 3 teaspoon white vinegar see notes
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups raisins see notes
Instructions
- Take the egg out of the refrigerator
- Preheat your oven to 375 F or 190 C
- Sift together the flour and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a deep mixing bowl)
- Add sugar and caraway seeds and mix. Add the butter (cut into small cubes) to the flour mix and stir on low speed until the flour resembles coarse corn meal (if you are doing this with hand, you can use a pastry cutter or a sturdy fork).
- In a glass measuring cup, measure buttermilk and add white vinegar and egg to it. Whisk and then add the baking soda. The mixture might froth up, do not worry this is a common chemical reaction that will make your bread nice and light.
- If you are using a stand mixer, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Add the raisins and mix until the raisins are just incorporated, 5-10 seconds.
- Now change the paddle attachment with dough hook and knead the dough on medium speed until it comes together, about 30 seconds.
- If you are not using a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon to mix dry and wet ingredients and add the raisins. Dump the dough on to a clean surface dusted with flour and knead with hands until the dough comes together.
- Take a cookie sheet and grease it with butter (see notes).
- Place the dough ball formed into a boule in the middle of the cookie sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut a ½ inch deep cross end to end across the boule.
- Bake uncovered for 50 minutes and then cover with foil before baking for another 10 minutes. So total bake time is 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, take the bread out of the oven, remove the foil and let cool on the sheet for 10 minutes. Then move it to a cooling rack for further cooling rack (see notes).
- Once the bread is cooled, slice and enjoy spread with some butter or your favorite jelly/jam.
Notes
The original recipe calls for cream of tartar. If you have it on hand, add 1 and ½ teaspoon to flour and salt mixture before sifting.
I used dark raisins in this recipe since that is more traditional. Feel free to use golden raisins or a mix of golden and dark. Your call.
I like to save the paper that the butter is wrapped in and then use it to grease my baking pans and cookie sheets.