Irish Soda Bread (1)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Many in North America celebrate St. Patrick's Day where the two traditional meals are Irish Stew or corned beef with cabbage usually served with some type of bread and washed down with green beer. My husband and I tend to eat out that night savouring a bit of American Irish cuisine combining celebrating St. Patrick's Day with another social event.

Irish Soda Bread

It just seems natural to serve Irish Soda bread with the St. Patrick's Day meal. Irish Soda bread is an Irish staple with the traditional version made without yeast. The rise comes from the interaction of the buttermilk and baking soda. This recipe originally written for a bread machine uses yeast to ensure a good rise but still has all the flavour of a traditional Irish Soda bread. I've converted the recipe to use a stand mixer. While this bread does have sodium in the form of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) it is considerably less than most loaves of bread pushing this bread into the low sodium category. The result is a lovely bread to serve with the meal as well as make corned beef sandwiches for the following day's lunch.

Irish Soda Bread
source: Garden Gnome

1 c buttermilk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ c rolled oats
2¼c unbleached flour
1 tsp instant yeast

Place dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl. Mix to blend. Measure buttermilk in measuring cup then add in the butter and honey. With stand mixer on setting 1 (mix) slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until dough cleans the side of the bowl. Set to setting 3 for kneading. Knead until smooth and elastic. Remove dough hook. Remove dough, lightly oil bowl then return dough to bowl for proofing until doubled. Punch down and form into loaf on Silpat lined baking sheet. Allow to rise until double in size. Cross-hatch if desired. Bake at 200ºC/400ºF until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped.