Irish Soda Bread

A slightly sweet, moist and tasty Irish Soda Bread that has been our family favorite for years!

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I’m quite sure that my favorite part of St. Patty’s Day is the Irish Soda Bread

Mary, my Mom, made this recipe not only to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but all year long.  We ate it for breakfast… with lunch… after dinner as cake

It’s a recipe passed down through her family and I’m proud to share it here!

Wait, is it cake or bread?  Who knows.  Who cares. It’s slightly sweet, moist and wonderful.  Just eat it whenever you feel like it

Let’s begin with our dry ingredients

Assemble 3 cups of sifted flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder,  1/2 teaspoon of The Spice Apothecary’s Apple Pie Spice & 1/4 teaspoon of salt

You can sift the flour through a fine sieve or you can whisk the measured flour to incorporate air.  That’s really the purpose of sifting

Pour all of the dry ingredients into a mixer and blend to combine

Once the dry ingredients are combined, make a small well in the center and start to add in your wet ingredients

You’ll need one cup of buttermilk, 1 egg, lightly beaten and one stick of butter that has been melted and cooled a bit

For an easy and less expensive buttermilk, check out Show Me how to make Homemade Buttermilk

Add the wet ingredients in one at a time and beat just until incorporated.  You don’t want to over beat the mixture as it will make the end product dense

Right now, just stop and smell the batter

You have to love a batter that smells this good before it’s even cooked

And there’s a raw egg so it’s not appropriate to eat the batter, but if you happened to get a speck on your finger and lick it off, you’d say, “wow, if it’s this good raw… what on earth will it taste like cooked??!!”

While we’re taking this commercial break, let’s take a look at some of our other Irish inspired favorites:

Instant Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage

NY Deli Style Reuben

Irish Lamb Stew

Now here may be the controversial part.  My Mom and probably every other good Irish cook makes soda bread with raisins

I have an aversion to raisins and I fully believe I’ve imparted this upon my family

And without guilt, I replace the raisins with cranberry raisins

One cup of them to be exact.  Just stir them in until mixed and then that’s that

No extra mixing!  (As previously stated)

I should mention, that you’ll need your oven to be preheated to 375 degrees and you should have a pan prepared with some cooking spray to avoid sticking.  You’ll want this delicious bread (cake) on your plate and not the sides of your pan

I’ve used a small cast iron pan, but a cake pan will work just as well (so does that mean it’s cake??)

Place your soda bread in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes

Remove from oven, cut a cross in the bread, brush with egg white and sprinkle with sanding sugar

Return to a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.  Check the doneness after 30 minutes with a knife or cake tester – the cake is done if the tester comes out clean

Best part about this cake (bread?) is that you don’t even have to wait until it cools off

Delicious enough to stand up by itself, but happy to have a pat of butter slathered on it while it’s still warm… mmm

Enjoy!

The Spice Apothecary’s Apple Spice ~ This warm & aromatic spice blend is perfectly balanced and gives a burst of flavor to Irish Soda Bread, muffins, oatmeal, french toast, applesauce and of course, apple pie!  Visit www.TheSpiceApothecary.com to view this spice blend, plus many more!

Tools used to make this recipe

KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer

Pyrex Prepware 2-Cup Glass Measuring Cup

Lodge L8SK3 Cast Iron Skillet, Pre-Seasoned, 10.25-inch

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