Irish Soda Bread

By Christy Rost

Ingredients:

2		cups flour
1		teaspoon baking powder
¾		teaspoon baking soda
½		teaspoon salt
3		tablespoons sugar
5		tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
2/3		cup raisins
¾		cup buttermilk
1		tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1		tablespoon sparkling sugar or 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar. Slice the cold butter into 5 pieces and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it looks like coarse crumbs.

Stir in raisins and buttermilk, mixing just until all of flour is incorporated; do not overmix. If the dough is too dry, stir in additional buttermilk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 1 to 2 minutes until its surface is smooth. Shape dough into a round loaf and pat it with your fingertips until it’s 1 ½-inches thick. Place the dough in a greased round 8- or 9-inch cake pan. With a very sharp knife, cut a cross ½ inch deep through the center of the dough.

Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter, sprinkle with sparkling sugar, and bake in a preheated oven 30 to 35 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Serve the bread warm or at room temperature.

Recipe makes 1 loaf.