Irish Soda Brad BakedvIrish Soda Brad BakedFollow my blog with Bloglovin
When a holiday like St. Patrick’s Day rolls around, it’s hard to not get caught up in all the green, gold and shamrock-leprechaun fun. I myself always feel the need to be a bit festive and make something Irish inspired — like corn beef and cabbage while loading up my baked goods with some Guinness, Baily’s or Irish Whiskey.
The problem is, corn beef & cabbage is a labor of love and alcohol and baked goods don’t always mix that well. Have you ever added whiskey to an icing? It just doesn’t hold up in the sense of a traditional buttercream frosting. On top of that, I don’t really enjoy Irish food (with the exception of potatoes…)
Still wanting to add a little leprechaun love to our meals, I settled on making an Irish Soda Bread. Often times, when I hear the word bread, I automatically assume that it involves yeast and, like most bread, requires a lot of time for the yeast to rise and a bunch of kneading.
Not so with Irish Soda Bread!
This bread was created by the Irish girl who wanted to get in and out of the kitchen quickly and back to her cold beer. Irish Soda Bread is a kind of quick bread which means there’s no yeast involved (and you all know, I hate yeast). I guarantee you, you’ll have this Irish Soda Bread in the oven and the dishes done in less than 30 minutes, it’s seriously that easy.
I gave the traditional Irish Soda Bread recipe a few modern twists by adding in grapefruit zest, raisins, and walnuts. I’m sure when the original Irish Soda Bread was created, it definitely didn’t contain walnuts, or grapefruit, but I love the added crunch the walnuts give to the bread while the grapefruit brings a slight hint of freshness that compliments the sweetness of the raisins. The other great thing about this bread it that it has a wonderfully crunchy, chewy crust.
I enjoy eating this bread for both breakfast and as a snack. It’s perfect with some ricotta and honey spread on top or a bit a jam. It’s also great just by itself or with a simple smear of butter. It would also make a great compliment to a cheese plate, paired with a salty parmesan cheese or soft chevre!
No matter how you choose to enjoy it, if you haven’t planned your St. Patrick’s Day goodies yet, I highly suggest whipping up this simple, quick Irish Soda Bread! You can enjoy it as a special Irish treat before heading to the bar to indulge in some green beer and corn beef & cabbage (that someone else made)!
- 4 cups all-purpose flour + ½ cup all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and diced
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- zest of half a small grapefruit
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 375* then line a large sheet pan or a 9-inch pie pan with parchment paper and set aside
- In a small bowl, combine the raisins, walnuts, and 1 tablespoon of flour and set aside*
- In a large electric mixing bowl, combine on medium speed, 4 cups of flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt
- Once combined, with the mixer on low, add in the cold, diced butter until incorporated into the flour mixture
- In a very large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and grapefruit zest
- With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the buttermilk-egg mixture until fully combined
- Remove the bowl from the mixer. At this point the dough will be very wet and sticky, it's okay!
- On a flat countertop, distribute ¼ cup of the remaining flour
- Turn out the dough on top fo this flour and sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup on top of the dough
- Kneading the dough and flour together, adding additional flour if needed, until the dough is no longer sticky
- Form the dough into a large round mound and place in on top of the parchment paper
- With a sharp knife, cut a large 'X' into the top of the dough
- Place the dough in the oven and cook for 50 minutes
- If the outer crust begins to brown, place some foil over top for the remainder of the cooking time
- Once done, remove the bread from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving
- The bread should keep for at least a week on the countertop if well covered.
