Irish Soda Bread

By Foodiewife

This is the perfect Irish Soda Bread! Lightly sweet and nutty, it the perfect companion to any hearty dishes like stew.

Ingredients

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 (1/2 stick) cup chilled margarine or butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted, optional
• 1 tablespoon oatmeal, not Irish oatmeal

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 70mins
Adapted from foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Spray heavy baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk both flours, sugar, and baking soda in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and cut in until the butter is reduced to pea-size pieces. Grating the butter makes this task must easier. Add buttermilk; stir until shaggy dough forms.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together, about 10 turns.

Shape dough into 9-inch round (the round should be about 1 inch high). Place dough on prepared baking sheet. Cut large X, 1/2 inch deep, in top of dough, almost all the way to the edges of the round.

Bake bread in center of oven until deep brown and bottom sounds hollow when firmly tapped (a bamboo skewer inserted into the center of the bread should emerge clean without any stickiness or moistness), about 55 to 60 minutes. Transfer bread to rack and cool completely.

NOTES:
I used my food processor to blend the ingredients, then turned it out onto a floured surface to knead. It takes some elbow grease to work the dough, but it does comes together.

Be sure to bake the bread to a dark golden color. The ends might turn out to be baked, but the center can be a little raw in the middle. The first time, this happened to me but I simply returned it to the oven and it was fine.