Tuesdays With Dorie : Irish Soda Bread

This week's recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) is Irish Soda Bread.. And it is possibly the easiest recipe there is in Baking With Julia (BWJ)..

The process is: Mix flour, salt, baking soda, buttermilk in a bowl, with a fork. Transfer to a floured surface to knead for 1 minute and make a ball.. Bake it for 50 minutes in the preheated oven.. Wait until it reaches room temperature to eat.. Do you know any bread recipe easier than this? At least I never knew baking a bread could be this easy before..

The original recipe uses unbleached all purpose flour and gives the option of adding raisins for a non-traditional (according to Dorie Greenspan) Irish soda bread.. After reading comments on TWD blog about the recipe being open to improvisation in terms of additional ingredients, I decided to make 2 versions of it: One with all purpose flour and raisins - following the original recipe, and second one with half all purpose half whole wheat flour, with 1,5 tablespoons caraway seeds.. Result: They are both delicious but very different than each other.. First one is soft, white and sweet with the additional raisins (which I boiled in water for 2 minutes, drained and dried before using for the bread), second one is brown, heartier and flavored generously with caraway seeds.. They both have substance and texture to support variety of toppings for open-faced sandwiches..

With all purpose flour and raisins..

With half all purpose half whole wheat flour, and caraway seeds.. And also baked in cast iron skillet.. 

BWJ says that this bread is only good for day one and gets rock hard afterwards.. I was positively surprised that it was not the case.. I baked them on Friday, tasted a piece when cooled to room temperature, wrapped with plastic wrap and kitchen towel.. We, my husband and I, ate our bread both on Saturday and Sunday for breakfast.. Although not as good as fresh, I am happy to say that the bread keeps for 2-3 days, locked in sealed plastic bags at room temperature.. They are also good toasted..

Below are pictures of our delicious breakfast items with home-made Irish soda bread.. We ate raisin bread with butter and apricot lekvar (thick dried apricot paste with lemon juice and almonds - from rugelach recipe) and some crushed almonds on top, and the other one with dill-cream cheese and smoked salmon, topped with some fleur de sel..

Raisin Irish soda bread with butter and apricot lekvar..

Caraway seeds Irish soda bread with dill-cream cheese and smoked salmon..

Conclusion: This recipe is so easy and open to variations, I will for sure bake it again and again.. And I recommend you to try it even if you don't consider yourself a baker or are scared of baking a bread.. It is very easy, and eating bread you baked is so satisfying.. You can watch the video of the Irish soda bread episode of Julia Child's TV show, from this link..

For the recipe please visit blogs of Carla and Cathleen : Chocolate Moosey and My Culinary Mission, or buy the book: Baking with Julia..

Looking forward to meeting you in two weeks with the next recipe for TWD: Pizza Rustica..