Archive for: irish soda bread
Irish soda bread is an easy to make quick bread that is a staple for St Patrick’s Day celebrations. It’s a great all-purpose bread to make because not only can you put an almost unlimited number of variations on the basic recipe, but it is so easy that anyone can bake it (no matter how intimidated they are by the thought of baking bread). I’ve made traditional soda breads, sweet breads and savory ones, but these are five of my favorite recipes that are sure to be a hit
- Traditional Irish Soda Bread is the classic soda bread, made with just four ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. It is quick and versatile, so you can serve it alongside a stew or slather it with butter and jam.
- Oats and Honey Irish Soda Bread is a slightly sweeter take on the classic, with oatmeal and honey added to the basic recipe to give it a sweet, nutty flavor and a more tender texture than you’ll find in the traditional recipe. Add raisins and cinnamon to make a great breakfast variation, or keep it plain for a whole grain bread that pairs with savory dishes.
- Lemon and Walnut Soda Bread is packed with candied lemon peel and crunchy walnuts. Both the lemon and walnuts go well with the simple buttermilk flavor of the bread, but they also serve to give the loaf a very spring-like flavor. This means that this bread will be received just as well at a springtime or Easter brunch as it will for St Patrick’s Day.
- Mini Irish Soda Breads give you an alternative to the large loaves that most soda bread comes in. The mini breads are the size of large scones and are just the right size for a single serving. Like most of these recipes, you can easily put a different flavor twist on this to make the breads sweeter or more savory. No matter how you flavor them, their flavor and short baking time will make them a recipe that you come back to again.
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Irish Soda Bread is definitely a much sweeter twist on soda bread than any of these other recipes. The bread itself has a warm chocolate flavor and it is studded with chocolate chips. You don’t find dessert soda breads very often, but this one is so tasty that it will make you wonder why not. Slather it with Nutella or turn it into french toast to make it even more decadent.
Irish soda bread is a type of quick bread that uses baking soda, rather than yeast, as a leavener. The most basic type of soda bread uses only flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt, and makes a dense, hearty loaf that goes well with many types of dishes. The basic bread recipe is very versatile, and it is easy to put your own twist on it by adding in raisins, nuts or herbs. Most soda breads tend to a bit plain or they verge on savory, but there is no reason that you couldn’t have a soda bread that is a little sweeter and that is exactly what this Chocolate Chocolate Chip Irish Soda Bread is.
This soda bread variation has cocoa powder in the bread dough, which gives the loaf a rich color and a nice chocolate flavor. I added a little bit of sugar and vanilla to the dough, which helps the chocolate flavor to “pop” and the loaf to taste balanced – slightly sweet, but not too sweet. And, since I wanted even more chocolate, I packed the bread with mini chocolate chips. It is moist, dense and delicious – not to mention that it is a fun variation on a traditional Irish soda bread!
The best time to eat this soda bread is when it is still slightly warm from the oven. The mini chocolate chips will be slightly melted when the loaf hasn’t cooled completely, and you get a lot of chocolate flavor in every bite. It is also excellent toasted and spread with butter, jam (esp. strawberry), peanut butter or Nutella. As is the case with many soda breads, they can seem a little bit more dense the day after baking, so if you have leftovers, you might even consider making some chocolate french toast with them, as well as just toasting .
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Soda bread – or Irish soda bread – is an easy to make quickbread that uses baking soda as a leavening agent. What makes it different from other quickbreads is that soda bread dough is very firm and the bread is generally baked in a free-form loaf, much like yeasted breads are. The bread is very easy to make, so you can have a fresh loaf baked and ready to eat in only a few minutes, and it is easy to put your own spin on the basic recipe by adding other flavorful ingredients. A plain soda bread might contain caraway seeds or raisins. This Lemon and Walnut Soda Bread is a citrusy twist on the basic recipe, with a light lemon flavor and subtle sweetness to it.
Lemon and buttermilk is a combination that I often use in springtime baking, both in cakes and bars, and that same combination makes this loaf seem perfect for a springtime brunch. I used both lemon zest and strips of candied lemon peel to give this bread its lemon flavor. The candied peel has a sweeter, more concentrated flavor than the zest alone does and is a nice addition for lemon-lovers (although you can skip it in favor of more zest if you don’t want to make candied peel for this recipe). Walnuts have a buttery, slightly citrusy flavor that makes them a good match for the lemon in this recipe. I use untoasted walnuts, chop them into fairly large pieces and stir them in. Pecans will also work if you prefer them, and you can omit the nuts completely if you want to serve your bread as a plain lemon loaf.
This soda bread is slightly sweeter (although not very sweet) than many other soda breads and stands well on its own, or served with butter and honey. If you want to add a little extra sweetness, add a generous sprinkle of sugar to the top of the loaf before baking to give it a nice, sweet crust.
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Irish soda bread is one of my favorite quick breads to make because it is so easy and so versatile. The history of the bread (not to mention the name) always emphasize how popular the bread is in Ireland, so while it is easy to make from scratch, I couldn’t resist giving Neill’s Irish Soda Bread Mix a try because it actually comes from Ireland.
The mix contains just flour, baking soda, buttermilk and salt, which are the same ingredients you’d find in a scratch recipe for soda bread. To make it, you simply add milk or buttermilk to the mix, shape it in to a loaf and bake it. The bread turned into one of the most beautiful loaves of soda bread I’ve seen, and was perfectly browned on the outside while remaining moist and tender inside. It was much lighter than some soda breads that I’ve had, which tend towards being rather dense and heavy. It stored well and still made great toast the next day.
The bread had a subtle buttermilk flavor, which you can enhance by using more buttermilk as your liquid (as opposed to plain milk). I should also note that this mix makes a great base for mix-ins, if you want to add raisins or other dried fruits for a sweet soda bread or feel like stirring in some herbs or sun dried tomatoes for a savory version. There are a few suggestions right on the packaging. The mix has just recently become available in the the US, so keep an eye out for it if you want to give it a try.
Irish soda bread is a type of quick bread that uses baking soda as a leavener. They’re easy loaves to make because the basic recipe has just four ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. This simple ingredient list also means that it is quite easy to put your own twist on the classic loaf. As much as I enjoy a plain soda bread when it is slathered with butter and jam (or used to sop up gravy after making a roast), I also like it with some variation. Raisins are a great way to sweeten up soda bread, and adding oatmeal or oat flour makes for a more tender, flavorful loaf. I usually make one big loaf and cut it into slices, but this time around I opted to make individually sized Mini Irish Soda Breads.
The mini soda breads follow the same recipe as full sized soda breads, but are baked off in small, biscuit-like portions. The dough is soft, so it can be dropped directly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with a large spoon or scoop, rather than trying to form it into individual loaves. If you add extra flour to make the dough less sticky, your breads will be a little on the tough side.
These breads can be made plain, but I added raisins, along with dried cherries and apricots to give it a little bit of sweetness. They have a nice buttermilk flavor and, like most soda breads, are plain enough to take well to a lot of butter, jam, honey or whatever else you might be inclined to pile on. These are best served when they are fresh and still warm from the oven, so try to make them shortly before serving, whether you pan to serve them at brunch or alongside dinner.
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