Irish Soda Bread

Kudos from a reader! "I found your Irish soda bread recipe online. It is a wonderful recipe. I have made it five times. It is the best, not dry and a touch of sweetness. Just wanted to let you know. Thanks very much."
--- Julie Fergus, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

This simple round loaf is quick, easy, and remarkably delicious. Slightly sweet but not too much so, with a satisfyingly crunchy crust, it is, as you might expect, leavened not with yeast but with baking soda (and a bit of baking powder, too).

When you read the recipe you might be dubious: unusual spicings (traditional

caraway seeds mixed with a smidgen of non-traditional cinnamon) and odd directions (kneading a quick-leavened bread???). But you'll be rewarded with a wonderfully satisfying and toothsome loaf, quite unlike usual American sweet breads. It'll become part of your regular quick bread repertoire.

In Dairy Hollow House days we always served this in our St. Patrick's Day breakfast baskets, and periodically throughout the year. Now the Writers' Colony residents enjoy it periodically.

Ingredients:

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking soda and salt, and sugar.

3. Cut the butter into these dry ingredients, using two knives or a pastry blender, as you would for pie dough. You want the butter cut in till it forms lumps that are about pea-sized.

4. Add buttermilk, currants or raisins, caraway seeds, and cinnamon and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Then, using your hands, gather the dough quickly into a ball. Place it on a lightly floured cutting board and knead it for 1 minute. Roll into a ball , and pat down to make a round, somewhat flat, loaf. Place the loaf on an ungreased cooking sheet.

5. With a sharp, floured knife, slash a large X, about 1 inch deep, across the dough. Sprinkle well with the additional sugar.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Let the loaf cool about 5 minutes before serving, and serve warm.

Makes 1 large, round loaf, about 12 to 15 slices