Irish Soda Bread, about as basic as it gets

[acelightning]

So my son the foodie is planning a corned-beef-and-cabbage dinner for some friends on St. Patrick's Day, and he called me and asked me for a recipe for Irish soda bread. The first one that sprang to mind was the one in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible, which includes baking powder, sugar, butter, and raisins soaked in Irish whiskey. However, I didn't think this would go very well with a savory meal of corned beef and cabbage, so I Googled for other recipes to compare... and found this. Basically, back in Ireland in the 19th century, if it had butter, sugar, raisins, etc., in it, it was considered a "tea cake", not bread. With a bit more research, I put together the following recipe:

IRISH SODA BREAD

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Grease a large cookie sheet.

4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk

Stir the dry ingredients together until well mixed. Make a well in the center and stir in the buttermilk, until the mixture comes together. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it 8 times, just enough to make sure it's all one coherent mass. Shape it into a slightly flattened ball about 7" in diameter. With a sharp, non-serrated blade, make a slash about 1/2" deep all the way across the loaf, then another one at right angles to it. (This allows the bread to expand without cracking, and has nothing particularly to do with religion.) Bake at 425° F.for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350° F. and continue baking for another 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the loaf comes out clean, or until the bread sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack. Allow to stand at least 6 hours at room temperature for best flavor and texture.


Of course, I had to try this out before I passed along the recipe. I made half a batch; I used King Arthur "white whole wheat" flour, and instead of liquid buttermilk, I used SaCo powdered buttermilk, blending it with the dry ingredients, and adding plain water as the liquid. I baked it for 10 minutes at 425° F. and 35 minutes at 350° F.

Now, I'm not a great fan of whole wheat, and I expected this to be dense, crumbly and/or chewy, and coarse-tasting. But when I cut a slice and buttered it, I discovered that it's DELICIOUS! Before I knew it, I'd eaten half the little loaf! It's close-textured and sturdy, but neither crumbly nor chewy, with a good crunchy crust, and the flavor is earthy and wholesome. And it's drop-dead easy to make.

Comments

[sporky_rat]

One of my coworkers in the bakery tells me (repeatedly) that whole-wheat dough makes for a very soft bread in some ways because of .... I kinda get lost in the discussion of gluten and protein, but it's the best thing to make homemade bread with.

The Powers That Be at work call him 'The Rainman of Dough'. Dough is what he does. We're not sure how he does it either.

[acelightning]

The making of certain baked goods is in my DNA - almost all my ancestors, on both sides of the family, made excellent pie crust, baking powder biscuits, and yeast breads. Whole-wheat flour doesn't contain as much gluten as white flour (and even that comes in levels of gluten content from high-gluten bread flour down to low-gluten, soft, bleached cake flour). But gluten isn't much of a factor in things like soda bread; in fact, you only knead it just barely enough to pull it all together, because kneading it enough to develop the gluten makes it tough. I was, however, still expecting a crumbly, dry texture, not the delightful smoothness I got!

[weaverbird]

This sounds wonderful - I am definitely going to give it a try. Thanks!

[acelightning]

Have fun! And if you come up with interesting variations, please post them!

[technoshaman]

wow, that's dead easy... and I have the powdered buttermilk! :) Gotta go out today anyway, and I think I know where to get that flour...

Thanks!

[acelightning]

I just happen to keep the "white whole wheat" around. The bread may have a somewhat more assertive flavor if you use regular whole wheat flour. And I find the powdered buttermilk extremely handy.

If you mix the dry ingredients, including the buttermilk powder, and seal them in a Ziplock bag, you have "instant Irish soda bread mix, just add water". You could bring this along when you go camping, and bake it in a Dutch oven in the fire. (That was, of course, the original way it was baked. I think my son borrowed my Dutch oven and hasn't given it back yet, but if I can lay my hands on it, I'll try the bread that way.) I wonder if you could knead it right in the bag?

[darkemeralds]

These are the moments when I deeply regret my wheatlessness.

The soda bread that I ate in Ireland long ages ago was what your researches brought you to: an extremely simple and very hearty and delicious loaf, perfect with cabbage-oriented hot meals!

[acelightning]

I don't think there's any way to make this completely wheat-free. But there are Irish and Scottish peasant breads made with things like oats and potatoes - basically, whatever a family might happen to have.

[darkemeralds]

You prompted me to go looking, and I found a GF oat-potato bread that looks rather good!

[acelightning]

I was thinking of something really simple, like oatmeal mixed into leftover mashed potatoes (rather than the complex mix of GF flours) and cooked on a griddle rather than in a loaf pan. But, hey, whatever works for you!

[pauraque]

I finally got around to making this. Very yummy! Thanks for sharing.

[acelightning]

Glad you enjoyed it! (I've got to make some more myself, soon... I just got sidetracked from cooking for a little while.)