Non-Traditional Soda Bead

After my success with Food and Wine last weekend I went back to the website to find a recipe to use my leftover buttermilk. I also decided to search for an Irish Soda Bread recipe. I was pleasantly surprised to learn buttermilk is one of the ingredients in Irish Soda Bread.

The recipe was very simple and while it was baking I did a little research on Irish Soda Bread and came across this website: http://www.sodabread.info/. It's dedicated to the preservation of traditional Irish Soda Bread. Contrary to popular belief Traditional Irish Soda Bread is made of only flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. So when people talk about making Traditional Irish Soda Bread and then post a recipe for Spotted Dog, it's not really Irish Soda Bread. Interesting, isn't it?

So was my Irish Soda Bread traditional? Nope. The recipe includes sugar which is an absolute no. It also includes butter. The website says butter is ok if you want to deviate a bit.

According to the website,Traditional Irish Soda Bread does not contain:

*"zest", orange or any other kind
*Irish Whiskey
*Honey
*Sugar
*eggs
*Garlic
*Shortening
*Heavy Cream
*Sour Cream
*Yogurt
*Chocolate
*Chiles/Jalapenos
*Fruit

Anyway, back to my experience with the Non-Traditional Irish Soda Bread... it was delicious, very dense and moist. It was amazing warm with some butter. Matt and I almost polished off half the loaf right after I took it out of the oven. I was surprised at how my finish loaf turned out... it didn't maintain the shape of the original ball of dough. ..

Getting ready to go in the oven...


Right out of the oven.. woah!

Irish Soda Bread

Source: Food and Wine Magazine

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour with the whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add the buttermilk and cooled butter and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is well combined.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 10 times. Shape the dough into a 9-inch round loaf and transfer to a baking sheet. Slash an X about 1/4 inch deep in the top of the bread. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the bread is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Transfer the soda bread to a wire rack and let cool completely.