Easy delicious bread recipe

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Last night we had our “Irish Dinner” – I had read that corned beef and cabbage is unknown in Ireland (that was the main course) but that to be authentic you should have smoked salmon, Irish cheddar, and brown soda bread. Because it’s St. Patrick’s Day week, it’s not hard to find stores selling “Irish Soda Bread” – Panera and Wegmans both had that. But when I inquired what was in the breads, it turns out that they are overly sweet abominations, full of currants, raisins, and honey, and if an Irishman were to recognize these breads he would probably think of Barmbrack, which is made for Hallowe’en.

I wanted a subtle, wholesome loaf that would pair nicely with cheese or salmon. I also got some Kerrigold Irish butter, which turned out to be spectacular with the bread we made. The butter has a flavor that reminds me of clotted cream.

At any rate the recipe is here:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000522965

And Louise used a round loaf pan so the product looked exactly like the picture in the URL. Because soda bread is not a yeast risen bread, you basically throw it together like a cake and cook it. And the wholesome rich flavor comes from 2/3 brown whole wheat flour plus some rolled oats. Louise used the Kerrigold butter in the bread as well.




Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup regular or quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
Milk
Preparation

  1. In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture forms fine crumbs. Stir in whole-wheat flour and oats.

  2. Add yogurt; stir gently. If mixture is too dry to hold together, stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, just until dough holds together; it should not be sticky.

  3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 5 times to make a ball. Set on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pat into a 7-inch circle. With a floured knife, cut a large X on top of loaf.

  4. Bake in a 375° oven until well browned, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or cool.

2

I had read that corned beef and cabbage is unknown in Ireland

Yes, Frank, everything that I’ve ever read or heard points to the Irish discovering “corned beef” on the Lower East Side of New York in the early 20th century…from the Jewish immigrants…

And, most Irish have never heard of corned beef and cabbage before coming to the US…

another sterotype down the drain

3

Right, Stuart. I was glad I had an excuse for the first course. We had “cooked” smoked salmon sliced thin and served with that delicious bread, and also Dubliner cheese from Kerrigold. Everyone was exclaiming how good it all tasted.

And I really don’t know why you can’t buy bread like this. People were asking why it was so moist – actually we made it with half yogurt and half buttermilk, and those give a very tender loaf. You have to allow it to cool completely and then it can be sliced into thin slices.

A slice of this bread with Kerrigold Butter and jam tastes very much like the “cream teas” we had in Devonshire, England…

I’ve never been to Ireland.

4

Frank,

You post prompted me to pull out my dog-eared copy of Beard on Bread.
Beard’s recipe is even simpler: Home | James Beard Foundation
Whole wheat soda bread makes terrific toast, BTW.

Best,
Bob

5

The Beard recipe looks good, and of course very similar.

But I like the idea of including a few rolled oats, both from the standpoint of texture and of flavor.

At any rate. Why would the Irish have to come to NYC to learn about corned beef?? Because in Ireland, there is The Pig.

The salty meat on the table in Ireland is evidently thick cut bacon (or other porky products).

Cattle are probably too valuable for other purposes to be eaten regularly.