A recipe

At the moment I have the flu. Not the puke flu, but enough to make every joint in my body hurt. I did a vlog, but it turned out stupid so you don’t get to see it. I’ll do another one this week. In the mean time you get the coveted Royal Irish Soda Bread Recipe.

Other recipes to come:

Asparagus & Scallops
Derek’s Chicken & Rice

Royal Irish Soda Bread (by Rose Levy Beranbaum)

[1 scant cup raisins]
[1/2 cup Irish whiskey or hot water]
[I don?t use the above]

4 T cold, unsalted butter
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (or 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat)
3 T sugar (the only bread recipe in which I don?t substitute honey)
1 t baking soda
? t salt
? cup + 1 T buttermilk

[combine whiskey/water and raisins in a small bowl, cover and allow to sit, stirring once, until the raisins have softened, about 30 minutes]

Cut the butter into about 4-5 slices to warm it up slightly. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients as if you were making a pie crust. (I just use my fingers for this) [add the raisins] Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture just comes together. (don?t use your Kitchen Aid) Turn the whole mess (and it looks like a mess) out onto your wooden counter and knead 5-8 times or it just forms a ball. Try not to add any more flour than necessary. Pat into a 6ish? round about 2? high. Make a ?? deep X across the middle with a sharp knife. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Place a linen or cotton tea towel on a wire rack and place the bread on top. Loosely wrap the towel around the bread and allow to cool at room temperature. Or just cool it on a rack. (I do the towel method)