Irish Soda Bread

Have you ever wanted to make fresh bread, but didn't want to spend all day doing it?  I mean, who doesn't?  Yeast based breads are fantastic, but they take forever.  I usually turn to simpler bread recipes, and since it's almost St. Patty's Day, I wanted to share quick and easy soda bread!

I have a fantastic Irish cookbook that I love dearly.  I went to Ireland for my honeymoon, and looking at the pictures in this book brings back great memories.  I have made the Irish vegetable stew with dumplings about a thousand times.  

I have also made soda bread a lot, but since I have cut bread almost completely out of my diet, I haven't made it in years.  But this weekend is time for celebration, so soda bread it is!

Soda bread is risen with baking soda instead of yeast, so it is much more like a muffin.  It has a softer crust, is fairly dense inside, and is slightly sweeter than most breads.  It takes about 5-10 minutes prep time and 45-1 hour to cook.  It is great as toast, or (as the Irish like it) fried for breakfast. I can attest that fried bread is one of the more delicious things in the world, even if it is a bit fattening.

I'm putting some egg salad on mine today, and it will also be a great compliment to my corned beef and cabbage that is coming up soon!

Here is the original recipe!

Wheat Soda Bread

adapted from Irish Cooking

makes 1 loaf

9 oz (about 2 cups) whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt 

1 tsp brown sugar

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

spray oil

NOTE: The original recipe used buttermilk, which is totally delicious, too.  I just made my version dairy-free.

I did use my scale for this.  Scaling ingredients is much more accurate than measuring cups, and is important when baking.

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Add vinegar to milk, stir until thickened and set aside. 

2. Mix together all dry ingredient in a medium bowl.  Pour in milk mixture and mix until soft dough comes together.  You can add a little more milk if necessary.

3.  Immediately pour dough into oiled loaf pan.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, then reduce oven to 300F and cook for another 20-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy!