mmm…soda bread

This is a seriously good recipe. Far and away the best I’ve made. Thank you once again, Cook’s Illustrated. We gobbled up this yummy bread along with some incredibly sweet and salty Irish Butter, a delicious aged Irish Cheddar, and an Irish Stout cheese. Oh, and some Beamish.  A lovely St. Patrick’s day all around.

Irish Soda Bread

• 3 c – all purpose flour
• 1 c – cake flour
• 1-1/2 tsp – baking soda
• 1-1/2 tsp – salt
• 1-1/2 tsp – cream of tartar
• 2 TBSP – sugar
• 2 TBSP+ – butter (softened)
• 1-1/2 c – buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix a.p. flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, and sugar in a bowl. Work butter into the dry ingredients until you have coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk. When the dough just begins to come together turn it out onto a floured surface and knead briefly – just until its is cohesive and bumpy.

(Resist the temptation to overwork the dough, as it will cause the bread to come out tough and chewy)

Form the dough into a 6-inch disk and cut a cross in the top using a serrated (bread) knife. Place it on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees (the recipe says 35-45 minutes, but it’s more like 30 in my oven).

When done, transfer the loaf to a cooling rack and brush liberally with 1-2 TBSP melted butter and let it cool. You really should let it cool so the fluffy little air bubbles can form.  Hard to resist digging in immediately, as it smells soooo good…

Cheers!