Friday, March 17, 2006

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Time to share the family recipes:

White Soda Bread
4 cups plain flour
1.25 tsp. bread soda
.75 tsp. salt
2 cups buttermilk

Yes, that's all that's needed - no raisins, no butter, no nothing. These aren't scones we're making here.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (gas 6). Sift together the dry ingredients. Add enough buttermilk to make a moist dough. Form the dough into a ball (or make two smaller loaves). Mark the top with an X to keep the loaf from exploding in the oven. As soon as you've got it mixed, you have to bake it. The chemical reaction between the soda and the buttermilk creates the air bubbles, and you want to catch the first stages of gas formation for a proper loaf.

Put the dough on a greased baking sheet, slip it into the oven, and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. It's ready when it's golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Serve warm with plenty of butter (Kerrygold, of course). Soda bread is only good when it's fresh - after it sits and gets cold, it looses a lot of the taste.

Drown the shamrock in plenty of lager or stout, and you've the makings of a brilliant evening.

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