Taking a Break for Irish Soda Bread

Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Even on the Coronaquarantined

I took a break to put together a really quick Irish Soda Bread.  Given that at least two-thirds of my household is part Irish (Oliver has not let us know yet), I figured we should celebrate St. Patrick's Day while in our Coronaquarantine by having soda bread!

It's sort of a non-traditional take, so bear with me.

First of all, some of the recipes I researched asked for buttermilk.  Now, when I was doing my Coronaquarantine food shopping, buttermilk was not one of the things I picked up.  I was so worried about not finding the kind of milk we like (1% organic), no other ancillary dairy registered.  The shelves were emptying out, but we did find milk.  Hooray!  My theory was to buy two half gallons.  Since organic milk somehow has way later dates of expiration, we could open one half gallon at a time rather than have a whole gallon go bad after a week.

I've included a substitution that I use when making pancakes and other things.  It's rare for me to actually pick up real buttermilk.

My Irish soda bread starts out a little more like a biscuit or scone.  I like Irish soda bread, but they tend to be way too dry.  I don't drink enough beer to make dry bread enjoyable.  Adding grated cold butter gives this bread a nice texture.  It's still fairly dense in texture, but there is also a moisture and a bit of air added in there that the baking soda just can't get to on its own.

Here are the ingredients:
3-1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins, steeped in hot water to soften
1-1/2 cups buttermilk (or 3/4 cup sour cream plus 3/4 cup water)
1 egg

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

We'll start with mixing the "buttermilk" together.  I like the water to be a teeny bit on the warm side so that it helps the cold sour cream mix together.  Also, while you're grabbing that sour cream out of the fridge, drop that stick of butter into the freezer for a few minutes so that it's easier to grate.  15 minutes should do.

Next, I whisked the dry ingredients together.  I love using a wide bowl for this type of thing.  I feel like I can see the distribution of butter better.

Grab that cold stick of butter out of the freezer and grate on the large side of a box grater.  I love this OXO box grater as it has a silicone bottom that makes it more stable.

Use your whisk to toss the butter into the dry mixture.  Don't use your hands.  You don't want this to melt at all.  We want to keep the butter as cold as possible so that it releases moisture pockets as it melts in the oven.  It should look like small peas are in your slightly damp sand.  Yeah, that's not a great descriptor, but that's what I'm looking for.

Drain the raisins well, and toss them along with the oats into the dry mixture.  Mixing them in now will give these ingredients a fighting chance to be equally distributed.

Make a well in the center and pour the buttermilk or sour cream mixture in the center.  Using a spatula, incorporate the dry into the wet quickly, but don't mix too much or else you risk a tough bread.  Irish soda bread is already notorious for being historically dry, you don't want it to be dry AND tough.

This dough will be wet and shaggy.  That's ok.  I love Irish soda bread to be a little craggy on the surface.  I like that it gives a crunchy tough-guy exterior that protects its soft emotions inside.  Classic romantic comedy trope.

Prepare the egg wash by beating a splash of water into the egg.Also, don't waste that egg wash.  In these uncertain times, use that humble egg wash and scramble him into an afternoon snack full of protein to get through working and homeschooling.

Dump it out on parchment on a cookie sheet and form it lightly with your hands into a disc that is about 1-1/2 inches tall.  Don't mess with it too much with your hands- you don't want that butter melting!  We want those soft emotions in there, remember?  Use a sharp knife to cut an "X" or cross onto the top.  Brush the top of your bread with that egg wash.

Pop it into the oven for 40-45 minutes.  A toothpick inserted should be dry coming out.  Set it to cool.  The egg wash gives it a very toasty look.  And that's it!  Enjoy it with some Kerrygold butter!