Irish Soda Bread Recipe

How to make it

---

• Sieve dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up
• handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to
• aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a
• soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and
• soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly -
• too much handling will toughen it, while too little
• means it won't rise properly. Form a round loaf about
• as thick as your fist. Place it on a lightly floured
• baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured
• knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a
• pre-heated oven, gas mark 8, 450 degrees F, for 30-45
• minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when
• rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap
• immediately in a clean tea-towl to stop the crust
• hardening too much. **Note: Wheaten bread or Brown
• soda is made in exactly the same way but with
• wholemeal flour replacing all or some of the white
• flour; this mixture will probably require less
• buttermilk. Another aviation is to add 1/2 cup of
• sultanas to the white bread - this loaf is known as
• Spotted Dick. Source: The Little Irish Cookbook by
• John Murray.