Irish Soda Bread Dilemma

[SierraCook]

Every year my coworkers and I cook corned beef and cabbage for lunch at work around St. Patrick's Day. The last few years we have just purchased at crusty artisan type bread to serve with the meal. This year we have decided to bake our own Irish soda bread. Here is the issue, I thought of Irish soda bread as a dense doughy bread without any type of sweeteners added. Here is the recipe I have:

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix well. Cut the butter and shortening into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Using your fingers, work the cold butter and shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and the buttermilk and mix into the flour mixture until it is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently until the dough forms a smooth ball. Place loaf on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Place the loaf in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.


One of my coworkers bought in a bread as a trial taste test. It was good, but a little too sweet for me. I would like to see other versions of recipes of Irish soda bread that you DC'ers bake. Thanks and I hope that you all have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.

 

[Shunka]

Here is a link to a site that has a recipe almost exactly like the one I use. http://www.irishabroad.com/culture/kitchen/Recipe.asp?RcpID=33

 

[SierraCook]

Thank you, Shunka. What a great website!! I also saw some other recipes on there that looked interesting.

 

[mudbug]

Sierra, here's the recipe I'm gonna use for St. Paddy's Day. From my Cajun/Irish cousin in New Orleans. BTW, it's TNT - I have made it before and it's really good.

A very easy, very good tasting bread. Best if made the day before, or several hours before serving. Original recipe makes 1 - 9 x 5 inch loaf ( 12 servings). Recipe has been scaled to make 12 servings.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Blend eggs and buttermilk, and add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter, and mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool. Wrap in foil for several hours or overnight for best flavor.

 

[ironchef]

I think I may have a recipe for the "award winning" Irish Soda Bread made by the Hilton Hawaiian Village when I was working there. I'll post it up later today if I can find it.

 

[SierraCook]

Thank you, mudbug and ironchef. Now I just have to decide which recipe to use. I might try to bake some bread tomorrow to make my decision. What better thing to do on a snowy day, but bake bread.

 

[JMediger]

These all look really good! Can I ask why they call it "Soda" Bread? I don't think I've ever had it or if I did, never realized it.
Thanks!

 

[auntdot]

The question of adding sugar or not is interesting.

Have not made soda bread for years but adding sugar also becomes an issue when making cornbread, which we love.

In general, I am not a fan of adding sugar.

But many folks do.

I am not about to get in the middle of a controversy here.

My feeling is let people eat what they think tastes good.

Were we talking about chili recipes, well, there are just things one should and should not do.

LOL and God bless.

 

[daisy]

It's called soda bread because it uses bicarbonate of soda as the raising agent, instead of yeast. It shouldn't rise a real lot. The first time I made it, there were howls of protest because it was 'too light' - it should be a fairly 'heavy' bread.

And according to my Irish in-laws, no sugar should be added - it should have quite a sour taste to it. And the wholemeal flour is needed to give it a brownish colour.

 

[Jikoni]

I agree with Daisy. My ma-in-law went livid when I put some sugar in the first time I tried it. She said, 'this is no soda bread it is sweet'

 

[Swann]

Being Irish, I make soda bread frequently. I use only flour, salt, soda, a tiny amt of butter and of course buttermilk and currants. No eggs or sugar. I will admit that I have used other dried fruit in the bread with wonderful results i.e. cranberries, blueberries, raisens..... also candied citrus peel and citron. To get the right flour protein I mix 1/2 cake flour with 1/2 all purpose. Currants or other fruit add sweetness to the bread. Back in olden times sugar would have been an expensive ingredient but some no doubt may have used honey which would have been readily available for a sweeter bread. I had a lot of soda bread in Ireland and it never was sweet.