Irish Soda Bread.

Irish Soda Bread

I'm a slacker.  I meant to post this on St. Patrick's day, but....well, apparently I took a break for a week from ze blog.

So in no way do I claim this to be traditional Irish Soda Bread (Do they even really make Soda Bread in Ireland?), but many years ago, I wanted to make something slightly St. Patty's Day-themed, and so I browsed the intertubes and found a recipe on some site about fun Irish traditions to celebrate with the family.

I've never tried a different recipe, because this one hits the spot for me.  And I think it's pretty darn tasty!  It's been a while since I made it, but I managed to find the old recipe scrawled on an envelope and tucked into the cover of another cookbook.  Good thing, otherwise I would have been doing my Irish great-grandparents a big disservice by not remembering my roots on the 17th.

This is an easy bread, and is really good for breakfast.  You can leave the raisins out completely if you're not a fan, or replace with something else.  I've used dried cranberries often, and sometimes add a little orange zest in with them.  Or make an orange-zesty cream cheese spread to go with it.  Yummy.

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 T butter, cold
• 1 cup Raisins (Golden, Regular, or any type of Dried Fruit)
• 1 1/2 cups Yogurt or Buttermilk

1. Mix your dry ingredients
2. Cut in your butter (it should be about pea-sized)
3. Stir in your raisins and yogurt
4. Take off any rings you might be wearing and get ready to have really messy hands
5. Knead for about 1 minute
6. Shape it into a large disk - about 8-10 inches across  (And if you like that baked-on flour look, pat a thin coat of flour on the outside of the dough at this point)
7. Cut an X in the top of the dough (about 1/2" - 1" deep)
8. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 45-50 minutes at 350