Post by treatmaker on Mar 22, 2007 13:44:59 GMT -5
This is the soda bread that I make every year. It's from the New York Times Bread and Soup cookbook, by Yvonne Young Tarr
4 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
l teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups currants (optional)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional)
1 egg
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Work the butter into the flour with your fingers. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, still mixing with your fingers. When the mixture resembles coarse meal, beat the egg lightly with the buttermilk, and add to the other ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended. The dough should be soft. Dust your hands lightly with flour and shape the dough into a ball. Place the ball on a flour-sprinkled pastry board and knead for 3 minutes. The dough should become smooth. Cut into two equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball and set both balls on a greased baking sheet. Gently press the dough with your palms until slightly flattened. With a very sharp knife dusted with flour, make 1/3 inch deep criss-cross slashes on the top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until golden and crusty. Slide the loaves from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
(For a sweeter Irish soda bread, add currants to the flour mixture before stirring in the egg and buttermilk.)
I make one large loaf out of this recipe. I also beat an egg with a teas water and brush on top of unbaked loaf and then sprinkle with sugar.
4 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
l teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups currants (optional)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional)
1 egg
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Work the butter into the flour with your fingers. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, still mixing with your fingers. When the mixture resembles coarse meal, beat the egg lightly with the buttermilk, and add to the other ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended. The dough should be soft. Dust your hands lightly with flour and shape the dough into a ball. Place the ball on a flour-sprinkled pastry board and knead for 3 minutes. The dough should become smooth. Cut into two equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball and set both balls on a greased baking sheet. Gently press the dough with your palms until slightly flattened. With a very sharp knife dusted with flour, make 1/3 inch deep criss-cross slashes on the top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until golden and crusty. Slide the loaves from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
(For a sweeter Irish soda bread, add currants to the flour mixture before stirring in the egg and buttermilk.)
I make one large loaf out of this recipe. I also beat an egg with a teas water and brush on top of unbaked loaf and then sprinkle with sugar.