Soda Bread

There have been some requests for my Soda Bread recipe. I have tried a million of them. 10 years later I found one that I love. It is actually the Royal Soda Bread recipe out of the Bread Bible, but I modify it.

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar (I really recommend the baker’s sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (have to use unsalted)
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Cut the butter into slices to warm it up slightly. Whisk together the dry ingredients. In this case the sugar is a dry. Use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients as if you were making a pie crust. Don’t use a pastry cutter. The resulting mixture should be coarse crumbles. Make a well in the middle and pour the buttermilk in. Use a wooden spoon to wet as much of the dry mixture as possible. It won’t all come together and shouldn’t. Turn the whole mess out onto the counter and work it together with your hands. Once it comes together kneed it about 8 times. If it looks like a sloppy mess you are right on track. Pat it into a 6-8″ round and about 1 3/4″ thick. Use a sharp knife to cut a deep X across the whole loaf and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the middle.

Ok, I typed that from memory since I made 3 of them yesterday so if it is wrong I apologize. It shouldn’t be though. The original recipe calls for whiskey soaked raisins to be added, but the trusty husband isn’t a big fan of raisins so I don’t add those. This particular soda bread has the consistency of a heavy scone. More like the ones you get at the mega coffee chain rather than the famous fair ones. It is a little sweet and the best part is doesn’t have that aluminum flavor that some soda breads get from using baking powder.

I make a ton of bread and by far this is the easiest one I make. And no, we aren’t talking throw all the stuff into the machine and you get bread. I mean I make bread, by hand. Talk about great therapy!