In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I have made some delicious Irish Soda Bread. I got the basis of this recipe from Ina Garten (one of my fav cooks on Food Network!) I changed her classic recipe up a bit, even though the original is amazing as well. This recipe is half the ingredients to make a smaller loaf and more of all the good stuff. Now, if you have ever had classic Irish Soda Bread than you know that it is a super easy bread that doesn’t require yeast so there is no kneading and it could not be easier! This does make it a bit more dense for sure and almost more crumbly but it is still amazing! Hope you enjoy it and happy st. patty’s day! Recipe is below.

Here is the delicious and beautiful finished product: doesn’t it look great with Orange and Dried Currants?

Here are the ingredients we started with: Flour, Buttermilk, Baking Soda, Salt, Sugar, Cold Butter, an Egg, and Dried Currants. By the way, I had some difficulty finding these dried currants, They are very traditional Irish though and worked hard to find them. I ended up finding them in a specialty store (the 4th one I went to) If you don’t care that much about being so traditional, feel free to use raisins or dried cranberries instead. I recommend chopping them up a bit though so they resemble a currant more.

First, Mix the Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, and Salt together in a bowl. If you wanted to add some other seasoning like Cinnamon, now would be the time.

Second, add the Flour mix into an electric mixer and add the cold Butter pieces until it resembles course crumbs like above.

Third, Mix the Egg, Buttermilk, and Orange Zest and Juice together. Add this mixture into the mixer very slowly on Low.

Mix the currants into the dough until just combined. You do not want to overmix this dough! I also want to add that you should mix your currants with about a Tablespoon of Flour so that the currants do not all fall to the bottom.

Next, you will pour the dough onto a well floured surface (you want there to be lots because this dough will be EXTREMELY sticky). Knead the dough on the flour surface for a couple of turns to make sure it is coated in the flour and no longer sticky.

Finally, put the bread loaf on a parchment lined baking sheet and put a shallow x in the middle like this. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for about 40 minutes. Remember, that every oven is different so be sure to check on it after about 30 minutes, The bread is done when you insert a toothpick all the way down and it comes out clean. I have also heard that you can tap it and see if it sounds slightly hollow.

Here is the finished product! When it came out of the oven, I brushed it with a mixture of melted Butter and orange zest. It is truly a delicious bread!

Look at how well distributed the Currants are! The flour trick always works.

This recipe is delicious! You can also make a savory version like the one above that has Rosemary and Black Pepper instead of the Orange and Currants. I half the sugar and then add the new ingredients with the dry ingredients. Mix and bake it the same and it is delicious!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hope you enjoy this recipe and try out the savory version as well- it’s great with a nice Irish stew!

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