Irish Soda Bread

Yes, St. Patrick's Day has passed us by, but Irish soda bread can still be baked and eaten any old time of the year!  I did make this a few days previous to St. Pat's, but didn't start my blog til a couple days ago.  While the paper recipe is still here, I thought I would transcribe it to the blog, so it's searchable and handy for the next time we want to make it.

I prefer the American-style bread, which includes a little more sugar and raisins.  When I was younger, I did not like raisins in bread.  My kids currently feel the same way.  But somewhere along the way I decided I DID like them.  In this bread they are GREAT.  They add a little bit of juiciness to an otherwise dry bread.  There are different colors of raisins, and I encourage experimentation.  Since as far as anyone knows, we only go around this good green Earth once, so why NOT try colorful raisins?

Second important thing to note is the use of CAKE or PASTRY flour.  Flour is made from different kinds of wheat, some are harder and some are softer.  The softer wheats have a lower protein content, and therefore bake lighter.  All-purpose flour is a blend to reach a certain ratio of protein that works well in most recipes.  As you gain more experience with baking, you will start to understand why pastry flour is needed in some recipes and how it performs.  The opposite would be BREAD flour -- heavy, more proteins.  Some kinds of wheat also make flour that are appropriate for pasta.  Oh, the wonderful world of wheat!

Third note is buttermilk.  That is just not something I use regularly enough to have on hand in the fridge, so I usually "clabber" regular milk.  For every cup of milk, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar, and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.  The acid will clump or "clabber" the milk to be something like buttermilk.  It will not be as thick, but it will do the job.  The job that buttermilk does is to react with the baking soda and powder in this recipe that adds air and tenderness to the bread.  It's very necessary.  Without the right kind of flour and the buttermilk, you might bake a nice brick with raisins in it.

3 cups sifted cake or pastry flour (sifting adds to air and lightness, too)
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
1 1/3 cups buttermilk (or clabbered milk)

Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir.  Add raisins and buttermilk and stir gently to combine.  I say gently because I use scooping motions to press the mix together, turning and scraping the bowl to incorporate all the dry bits.  Don't undo all your hard work from sifting and using light flour by beating the mix to death!  Over-mixing will toughen your dough.

When the sticky dough is just combined, turn it out on a floured surface and knead it up to 10 times to smooth it out.  Prep a 9" round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.  Perfect circles are not required.  Spread the dough to fill the pan and mark the top with a really cool "X" using a knife and cutting not more than 1/4" deep.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 65 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  This bread does not keep well, so eat it within a couple days (no problem, right?).  Store it in a cool, dry place out of the light.

Bonus -- great with coffee!