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It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day, so I figured it would be fun to make something with a bit of Irish flair (I’ll let you do your own research on the interesting history of soda breads)!
Soda breads are breads that use baking soda as a leavening agent rather than yeast. This makes it a really quick bread option. Plus, it uses basic pantry staples! The texture of the baked bread is soft and dense and it has a nice crusty exterior.
A few tips:
-Don’t overwork the dough while you’re mixing (you want the interior of the baked bread to be tender).
-I like to bake my bread in a dutch oven (I think it makes for a better crust).
-Making a cross in the top of the shaped dough allows the interior to bake all the way through.
-You can leave out the cinnamon and/or raisins if you’d like.
-I like to serve this toasted with plenty of butter. It would also make some really nice French toast!
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a dutch oven with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- Use your hands or a pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour mixture (it should resemble coarse breadcrumbs). Stir in the raisins.
- Add the buttermilk and stir until just combined. The dough will be pretty sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface and gently knead about 10 times (don't overwork the dough). The dough will still be pretty sticky - this is okay.
- Gently form the dough into a round loaf and transfer to the prepared dutch oven. Use a sharp knife to cut an X into the top of the dough (about 3/4" deep).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the bread is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
- Allow the bread to mostly cool before slicing.
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