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Irish Soda Bread
Try your hand at making Irish soda bread, and you won’t regret it! Its dense, sweet flavor will make you wish you doubled the recipe.
Irish soda bread is a staple in Irish cuisine, and it’s especially popular on the days leading up to Saint Paddy’s day. You can use it to soak up leftover juices on your plate after eating a meal, or you can simply enjoy it as a snack. What’s more, the whisky infused raisins and underlying whisky flavor in the bread will give your tastebuds a kick.
This bread is referred to as a “quick bread.” The words say it all; this bread is one of the quickest breads you can make. Since it doesn’t use yeast, the dough doesn’t have to rest or rise before baking. Instead, it uses baking soda (hence the name Irish soda bread).
Since this bread is made with baking soda, it was invented soon after the first baking soda made its way into Ireland. This was in the 1830s. Irish soda bread was popular among poor families who didn’t have the time, money, or ingredients to make bread with yeast.
With baking soda, they could use sour milk, wheat flour, and butter to whip up a delicious batch of bread in just an hour.
Overtime, the recipe for Irish soda bread has gone through some slight modifications. One of the best changes is the addition of whisky and raisins. These two ingredients sweeten the bread, and give it a bit more bang for its buck. The only bad thing is, once you try soda bread with whisky and raisins, you’ll never want to go back to the plain stuff.
Texas Crown Club Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Texas Crown Club Irish Soda Bread Recipe
For this recipe, it is recommended that you let your raisins absorb some of the whisky before baking. This will allow the whisky to infuse into the raisins, keeping them moist throughout baking, while also allowing the whisky flavor to stay front and center.
Simply pour the whisky and raisins into a bowl and wait a few hours.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup Texas Crown Club Whisky
- ½ cup raisins
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1½ cups buttermilk
Serves: 10
TIME: 1 hour + time spent letting raisins soak
Step 1 - In a bowl, combine the whisky and raisins. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let this sit in the fridge for at least an hour. This will allow the whisky flavor to infuse into the raisins.
Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 3 - To make the bread, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and butter. The butter should be very cold, so keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Use an electric mixer to mix until the ingredients have combined to form small crumbs.
Step 4 - Add in the honey, buttermilk, raisins, and whisky. Mix well.
Step 5 - On a well-floured surface, knead the bread dough. Form the dough into a circular mound and place into a greased, round cake pan. If there is too much dough, separate it into two round cake pans. Cut a small cross into the top of the dough.
Step 6 - Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, then let cool before eating.
Eat your Irish soda bread with butter or jam! Or, serve it as a side with dinner. If you want to make it a little sweeter, you can sprinkle your bread with some coarse cane sugar. However you choose to eat it, you’ll feel smart as a whip serving this to your friends and family.
