St. Patrick's Day Recipes

St. Patrick's Day Irish-American Soda Bread

Irish-American soda bread is a sweeter, lighter, more interesting riff on the original Irish soda bread, a simple combination of flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. No eggs, no sugar, no raisins or caraway seeds... all of those came later. And in America, land of "too much is just enough," the formula became richer still, with the addition of butter, and yet more sugar. The following soda bread tastes like a sweet, rich scone, a tiny bit crumbly but moist enough to hold together nicely when it's sliced. We bake it in a tall, round pan, to give it its classic shape. Though you can use raisins or currants, we prefer the tinier currants, as they spread themselves more evenly throughout the loaf.

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1/2 cup yogurt)
1 cup (5 ounces) currants or golden raisins, firmly packed
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon milk, for glaze
1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for topping

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, and beat on high speed until the mixture is thick and light-colored, about 2 minutes. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then 1 cup of the flour. Gently beat in half the buttermilk (or milk/yogurt mixture), then another cup of the flour. Add the remainder of the buttermilk, and the final cup of flour, mixing until smooth. Stir in the currants and caraway seeds.

Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 8" x 3 1/2" round pan (or a 9" x 3" round pan), one whose capacity is at least 5 1/2 cups. A souffle pan or panettone pan is a good choice. Drizzle the milk atop the batter, and sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake the bread in a preheated 325°F oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Tent a sheet of aluminum foil over the top for the final 15 minutes, if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the bread from the oven, wait about 5 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a rack to cool. Allow the bread to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Yield: about 12 servings.

Alternatively, spoon the batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake the bread in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Irish Soda Bread

The "real" Irish soda bread consists simply of Irish "wholemeal" flour (equivalent to a coarse grind of our American whole wheat flour), baking soda, salt and buttermilk. At the other end of the spectrum is Americanized Irish soda bread, a white, sweet, cake-like confection filled with raisins or currants and caraway seeds. The version we print here is much closer to traditional Irish bread than to its American cousin.

However, the addition of some bread flour, an egg, butter, a bit of sugar and some currants serve to lighten and tenderize this loaf just enough to make it attractive to most of us on this side of the ocean.

The craggy crust on this hearty, dense bread makes it somewhat tough to cut in thin slices; we suggest using a serrated knife to cut wedge-shaped pieces. A bit of butter or jam is a nice addition.

2 1/2 cups (12 3/8 ounces) King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 cups (5 7/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached Special Bread Flour
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (3 ounces) currants or raisins
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 1/3 cups (11 3/4 ounces) buttermilk
1 large egg

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and currants or raisins. Using a mixer, a pastry fork or blender, or your fingers, cut in the butter until itÕs evenly distributed and no large chunks remain.

In a separate bowl (or in a measuring cup) whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. The dough will be stiff; if it's too crumbly to squeeze together, add another tablespoon or two of buttermilk.

Knead the dough a couple of times to make sure it's holding together, then shape it into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly, and place the loaf in a lightly greased 8- or 9-inch round cake pan, or in a similar pan; it won't spread much, so the pan doesn't have to be large. Use a sharp knife to cut a 1/2-inch deep cross, extending all the way to the edges, atop the loaf.

Bake the bread in a preheated 400°F oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until it's golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven, and brush the top with melted butter, if desired. Yield: about 12 servings.