Irish Soda Bread and tea time...

Irish Soda Bread

My mother was in town recently for a stamp convention.  Whenever she visits; my sister, mother and I like to go to tea at the St. James Tearoom.  For March, one of the tiers of delightful treats at tea had a small Irish Soda Bread roll made with dried currents.  It was tasty and I became a little obsessed...I wanted to make Irish Soda Bread too. 

That night I went through all of my cooking/baking books that I own.  I finally came across a recipe in "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook", of course she had a recipe...why on Earth didn't I check this book first (this was "DOH!" moment).  I studied the recipe carefully; I find bread making intimidating, to say the least.  Since soda bread is not a yeast bread I felt a little more confident, but not by much.  

I set out the next morning ready to concur the world!  Ok, maybe not the world, but I expected a lot out of this bread.  I got started...after a little pep talk and 2 cups of tea, of course. 

Irish Soda Bread from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook   
For printable recipe, please click here 

4 C all-purpose flour

¼ C sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

½  tsp All Spice*  

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold

2 C Dried Cranberries**

1 ½ scant C buttermilk

1 lrg egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 lrg egg yolk

1 Tbsp heavy cream

Heat oven to 350°.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder & all spice until well combined.

Using a pastry cutter or two knives in scissor fashion, cut in butter until the mixture feels like coarse meal. Stir in dried cranberries until evenly distributed.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and baking soda until well combined.  Pour buttermilk mixture into the flour-and-butter mixture all at once, and stir with a fork until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture begins to hold together, it should resemble a rough biscuit dough.  Using your hands, press the dough into a round, dome-shaped loaf about 8 inches in diameter.  Lift the loaf from the bowl, and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. 

In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk and cream together.  With a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the loaf. With a sharp knife or razor, incise a cross, about ½ inch deep, into the top of the loaf.  Transfer to the oven.  Bake, rotating halfway through, until it is deep golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center, about 70 minutes.  Remove from oven, and transfer bread from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool. 

* The recipe actually calls for 2Tbsp of Caraway Seed.  I replaced the caraway seed with all spice, I didn't have caraway on hand and I thought the all spice would be a nice touch to the flavors of the bread. 

**The recipe calls for 2 C raisins.  I replaced the raisins with dried cranberries, because I am not a big raisin fan.  I like the taste of dried cranberries as a substitute for things that call for raisins. 

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread, after being sliced

I followed the recipe to the letter, except for the noted changes, and the result was an amazing bread that I plan on making again and again.  It may not bring world peace, but it tastes really good and isn't that all any baker can ask for.

Enjoy the foods of your labor.  :-)

Bread...3 ways...

I recently received a recipe from Sean's mom, Vickie, for "Zucchini Bread".  Looking at it, it seemed like a perfect "squash" bread recipe (zucchini or pumpkin, thanks for the term Christa) and I bet  I can get a banana nut bread out of it too.

Not being able to wait to buy zucchini I adapted it for pumpkin bread first, since I had pumpkin on hand.  It was just as I suspected;  it was GOOD.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread, Sliced and Buttered

 Next...I went to the store and bought zucchini a few days later to try out the recipe as it was written.

Zucchini Bread

For printable recipe, please click here
3  Eggs
1 C  Oil
2 C  Zucchini (peeled and finely grated)
2 C  Sugar
3 tsp  Vanilla
3 C  Flour
1 tsp  Salt
1 tsp  Baking Soda
½  tsp  Baking Powder
3 tsp  Cinnamon
2 tsp  Nutmeg* (I added nutmeg, because I like it w/ cinnamon)
1 C  Nuts (optional)
butter and 2 tsp flour to prep 2 loaf pans

 

Preheat oven to 350°.  Prepare 2 loaf pans, by greasing them with butter and dusting them with flour.  Combine the following dry ingredients in a large bowl:  flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nuts (I used pecans).  Whisk together.

 In a small bowl, beat eggs until light and foamy.

In a large mixing bowl, add:  oil, sugar, zucchini, egg and vanilla.  Mix well.

Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.  Mix well

Pour the batter into the 2 prepped loaf pans and bake @ 350° for 1 hour.

**Variations:  
 For Pumpkin Bread:  Omit zucchini.  Use 1 can pumpkin, ¾ C of oil instead and add 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, & a dash of cloves.    
For Banana Nut Bread:  Omit zucchini.  Use 2 C ripe banana, ¾ C of oil instead.

What came out of the oven were 2 perfect golden loaves of zucchini bread.  They were a tasty treat.

Zucchini Bread

I want to thank Vickie for the recipe, we have really enjoyed it and its versatility (tonight we bake banana nut bread). 

Enjoy the foods of your labor.  :-)