Irish Soda Bread
On the plane ride back to Paris, I was thumbing through the latest issue of Bon Appetit, which featured a piece on Ireland written by the actor Andrew McCarthy.
What caught my eye was the portrait of a woman with her just-baked Irish soda bread in front of her – resilient and no-nonsense, she reminded me of my ex’s sweet Aunt Mary, who had a tough-as-nails interior, twinkly blue eyes, and a soft Irish brogue.
A longtime widow, Mary lived in the tiny, three-cottage hamlet of Lisduff in County Roscommon, and despite a back injury that caused her to have more of a bent-over than straight-up posture, many times a day, she’d go out back and carry in a large, blue plastic bucket, filled with cylindrical, log-like pieces of dried turf, which she’d stuff into the stove for heat – and cooking. One of her specialties, besides turnips and boiled cabbage, was Irish soda bread, which she called simply “cake.” Slathered with creamy Irish butter and strawberry jam, it was the perfect snack with our morning tea.
I hadn’t thought about Irish soda bread in years.
The recipe in the current issue calls for a mixture of wheat and white flour, along with brown sugar, but I wanted to make something more Mary-like – a simple white soda bread. So I researched and found this recipe in an older issue of Bon Appetit – and it was absolutely perfect.
This takes all of five minutes to put together, and cooks up in no time at all — it’s magically delicious!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone.
Irish Soda Bread
Bon Appetit, 1996
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425.
Lightly flour a baking sheet. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add just enough buttermilk to form moist clumps. Gather dough in a ball and gently form a 6-inch diameter by 2-inch high round loaf. Place on baking sheet, and cut a 1-inch deep “X” across the top of the bread. (Why do we do this? To let the devil out!)
Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 35 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool.
