A perfect meal for St. Patrick’s Irish Soda Bread

Sora has lived in Ireland for 14 years and has also visited the country several times before and after living there, sampling all the soda bread recipes she can find.

“Every St. Patrick’s Day I come across a recipe for white soda bread with raisins, which I’ve never seen eaten in Ireland,” Sora noted. “But I eat Brown Soda Bread every day. It’s very healthy – high in fiber and protein, I think.”

He fiddled with his Irish recipe to adapt it to American ingredients, and now thinks he has the right formula. The biggest problem with using the Irish recipe is that we have so many different flours here in the US, so she had to find the combination of flours available. For added texture, she adds bran, wheat germ, and long-aged oats. This makes the bread very sweet with a nice crunchy crunch.

Sora says this bread is delicious with Irish butter, but she likes smoked salmon, and even peanut butter. His favorite butter for this bread is Kerry Gold. “I recommend Kerry Gold Butter for spreading on your bread. In the olden days in Ireland, you could judge the wealth of a family by how thick the butter was spread on the bread for of foreigners,” he added.

He also noted that in Ireland you eat it for breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, black and white puddings, mushrooms and roasted tomatoes. I think you can use this sweet bread in many ways.

But, for St. Patrick, Sora said that Irish people like food with the colors of the Irish flag, green, white and orange. So, at his suggestion, I served the Irish Soda Bread with smoked salmon, Boursin cheese, capers and fresh dill for a recent meal. It was a huge hit and loved by all. This recipe will become a classic in your kitchen!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Recipe Notes

The first time I made the bread, my dough didn’t seem to hold more than two cups of milk. But, the second time I used more whole wheat flour and was able to use 2 3/4 cups of milk, although my dough seemed softer than Sora’s, which made it difficult to cut the X in the dough. Therefore, I recommend adding just enough milk to incorporate all the dry ingredients and allow you to roll them into a ball and make a deep cross using a wet sharp knife.

Sora uses Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour and I use King Arthur 100% whole grain wheat flour. If you want to use Irish flour, you will want to look for Odlums whole wheat flour which you can get from Amazon.

I reduced the amount of baking soda in the second batch to two teaspoons instead of three and my family and I really like the taste with less baking soda.

Sora’s Irish Soda Bread

(Makes a large round loaf)

MIXTURE

3/4 lb. Bob’s Red Mill Graham Flour (12 oz.)

1/4 lb. all-purpose flour (4 oz.)

1/2 cup rolled

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat flour

3 tsp. baking soda (2 tsp.)

2 tsp. yeast

1 tsp salt

2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups milk

Directions

Butter a very deep, 8-inch pan. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Mix all the dry ingredients well. Make a well in the middle and add butter; mix well to make a smooth dough. Place the dough in the center of the pan, shape it into a ball with a spoon. Use a sharp knife washed with water to cut a deep cross in the top of the bread. This allows the bread to rise properly and bake evenly, to ensure that the center is baked. (What a great idea. maybe we should try this with the never-ending banana bread!)

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack, then wrap in a tea towel or store in an airtight container. Slice thin or thick, and serve with butter or peanut butter, smoked salmon and dill, or with eggs and bacon!