housewivesdiary: IRISH SODA BREAD WITH RAISINS

IRISH SODA BREAD WITH RAISINS

Irish Soda Bread is a rustic old fashioned bread recipe which uses just four basic ingredients; flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt. You can make it fancier by adding some orange zest or some black currants or raisins. I find baking this bread to be the easiest and often bake it for our breakfast or dinner.

I like to add some black currants or raisins for little sweetness when I bake it for breakfast while for dinners it is always the basic Irish Soda Bread. It goes extremely well with soups.

Irish Soda Bread is an incredibly fast bread to bake and saves you from the pain of dealing with tricky yeast (I love yeast though!)

The acid in buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to provide the bread’s leavening and makes the bread crusty.

Soda Bread dries out very quickly so it is best to consume it within a day or two. I must also mention that a day old soda bread works wonderfully for bread pudding both sweet and savory.

Preparation Time : 15 mins

Baking Time : 35 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

· 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour

· ½ cup all-purpose flour + 1 tbsp for dusting the baking tray

· 1 tbsp olive oil

· ½ to 3/4^th cup of buttermilk

· 1/4^th tsp salt

· ½ tsp baking soda (leveled)

· 1/4^th cup black raisins (optional)

· 1 tbsp oats to sprinkle on top (optional)

Preparation:

Pre-Heat the oven at 200C.

Mix whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda in big bowl.

Add olive oil and gently rub the oil with flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.

Add the black raisins to the flour mixture and mix again.

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour the buttermilk.

Bring the flour mixture and buttermilk together to form soft dough.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and start forming a round shape. Knead very gently if required.

Now place the soda bread dough on a baking sheet dusted with some more flour.

Score the bread by making a deep cross and poking a hole on each corner.

Brush the soda bread with some buttermilk and sprinkle the oats on top of it.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 200C for 30- 35 minutes.

When done the Irish Soda Bread it will sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.

Let the bread cool down for 10 – 15 minutes before slicing it.

Serve the Irish Soda Bread warm or toasted.