Irish Soda Bread

Here is a recipe for Irish Soda Bread.  My dad’s side is Irish and, well, St. Paddy’s is coming up soon…

My daughter made this bread a little while ago. It was delish! She used spelt instead of wheat flour. And she used the last of the rice milk (3/4 c) topped up with melted butter (3/4 c) for the liquid. Apparently you can just add lemon juice to alternative milk instead of buttermilk. She took it more literally and it tasted great!

The original recipe has caraway seeds in it.  I guess you can add them if you want it to be gross.  Apparently I don’t like caraway seeds. You can, however, add sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, raisins, currents, or dried apple bits.  Those are yummy.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spelt or kamut flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking-soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (about) buttermilk (3/4 c rice milk + 3/4 c melted butter)

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly flour baking sheet. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Mix in enough buttermilk to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball. Turn out onto lightly flour surfaced and knead just until dough holds together, about 1 minute. Shape dough into 6-inch-diameter by 2-inch-high round. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cut 1-inch-deep X across top of bread, extending almost to edges. Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 35 minutes. Transfer bread to rack and cool completely.