Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Yesterday was a LONG day, but it’s over and I am glad. That means no more late hours for months and months. We had a nice dinner at the late house of 4:15, so we could be back in time for night time conferences at 6:00 pm. I did enjoy the fact it was still light out when we had to go back into school, it made me not as tired or wanting to run the other direction. It’s always funny to walk back into school because the parents swarm outside ready to walk in and you can imagine it’s a small bit like being a celebrity with parents wanting to talk to you right away. 


I am by no means Irish at all, but I enjoy celebrating the day. We always do a little something for it in school, talking about what it means, so every year I try to make Irish Soda Bread. I started out, my first year, buying it, but then I realized how easy it was to make. I have had this great recipe for years, from a family member and I don’t even know where they got it from. I didn’t use any type of whole grain flour since it was for my students. I wanted to stick with the original recipe so they could get the taste, plus some of them can be VERY picky and I don’t want to mess with their taste buds. 


Last year I made one whole wheat loaf and one white loaf. I ate half the whole wheat loaf by myself over the school week. This year I decided since I have 2 weeks ’till vacation I don’t need to make a wheat loaf just for me, as much as I want it! (Danny isn’t really a fan.)


Please excuse these pictures, by the time I did this last night, it was kind of light, kind of dark!

Irish Soda Bread


Ingredients
3 cups of all purpose flour 
1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
1 cup raisins
1 cup buttermilk (I used reduced fat)
1 egg


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl (I used the Kitchenaid stand mixer bowl) combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt and stir. Add the butter and mix again. Stir in the raisins. In a small bowl whisk the buttermilk and egg together and slowly add to flour mixture. (I switched to the bread hook after this step.) Mix well with the bread hook. Put the dough on a well floured surface and fold it over on itself a couple of times. Shape it into a loaf. Put the loaf on a cookie sheet sprayed with non stick spray. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Cook for 15-20 minutes longer until it is browned on top. 


I wish I had a great picture of how it sliced, but I don’t since I’m waiting to slice it when I get to school. If I can sneak my camera out without looking like a weirdo I will! Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Who is having corned beef and cabbage tonight??

Tagged as: bread, breakfast, holidays