Now we’re talking…

I have made more loaves of Irish Soda Bread than I care to count (calorically speaking) in search of THE ONE. This is pretty close….

We start by saturating raisins with Irish Whiskey (of course we do.)

Take these:

and throw one cup of raisins into a half cup of whiskey, like this:

and let them sit for AT LEAST 30 minutes, OR you can leave them on your counter overnight to soak in the whiskey goodness.

In due time, strain the raisins and set them aside, but…VERY IMPORTANT!

 Save the Whiskey.

Don’t start baking until your raisins are plumped.

---

The Bread Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup Unbleached, all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour (not pictured)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

Preheat your oven to 375º.

Mix all your dry ingredients into the bowl and then plop the cold butter in 1/2” cubes onto the flour.

Now you’re going to “cut in” the butter, by pinching it between your fingertips while combining it to the flour. Pinching out the large clumps, it should look like this:

Then, plop your plumped raisins in:

and gently mix them until they’re all coated.

Add your buttermilk and combine until there is no dry flour.

This bread will only require a soft knead: basically fold the dough over onto itself about 8-10 times. It’s a’gonna be sticky!

Soft kneads are more easily done by scraping the dough up and over with a bench scraper (not pictured), a bowl scraper,

or a chef’s knife will do in a pinch.

Otherwise, roll up your sleeves and get to it. (You don’t want to know what my camera looked like when I was done with this post… I’m insured):

Mound your dough into a 6” dome onto a cookie sheet or baking stone. Slice a large X onto the top of your loaf to keep away the evil spirits. (Not making this up. I love the Irish.)

Bake at 375º for 35 minutes.

Check for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into the middle of the loaf (my mom always used a knife) and making sure it comes out clean. If it’s still wet inside, turn down your heat to prevent over-browning the crust and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Now, you can stop here and your bread will look like this*…

Or you can go full-on-bakery-style with me and glaze it….

1. Set aside 3 Tablespoons of the Raisin Whiskey juice (that you saved, remember!?!?) and don’t touch it until tomorrow. Trust Me.

2. Put what remains (about 2 Tablespoons) into a small saucepan and heat it up until it boils and your bubbles start to pop rapidly. Watch it. You’ll see it thicken a bit. Pull it off the heat before it starts to blacken.

3. Brush the top of the loaf with the syrup and if you want to get REALLY fancy, sprinkle sugar on top. REALLY, REALLY fancy? make it Turbinado Sugar. Hmm. Look at you…

until she shines…

Oh! and come back tomorrow. We’re making Whisky Butter.
Yep.

 

---

*let your bread cool wrapped in a flour sack dish cloth. It will keep the crust from drying out but still allow the steam to escape and not make your bread soggy.