4cupsall purpose flourplus 1 tablespoon for coating the raisins
4tbspsugar
1tspbaking soda
1 1/2tspsalt
4tbspcold unsalted butterdiced into ½ inch pieces
1egg
1 3/4cupscold buttermilk
1cupraisins
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix in the butter slowly until combined.
In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg and buttermilk together. Slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the bowl with the flour.
Toss the raisins with 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir into the dough.
On a floured surface, knead your dough several times to form it into a loaf. The dough will be wet, and the loaf may have imperfections but this is OK.
Place the dough onto the sheet pan covered in parchment paper and cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf using a bread knife (or any serrated knife). Bake for 45 - 55 minutes in the preheated oven. To test for doneness, a cake tester should come out clean and the loaf should have a hollow sound when tapped.
Let cool on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
Don’t Wait to Put Your Bread in The Oven. Because Irish Soda bread is a quick-bake bread, its ingredients begin acting together as soon as they are mixed. This means that you should not pause between steps of the recipe or leave your bread to rise before it goes in the oven. Once you make your dough, it should be gently kneaded and then go directly into the oven.
Don’t Over-Knead Your Bread. Gently knead your bread before adding it to the oven, being careful not to over-knead it. The ingredients in the bread (buttermilk and baking soda) react to create small bubbles that will help your bread rise. If you over-knead your bread it may not rise properly in the oven. Knead it just a couple of times, enough to form it into a round loaf.
Use either a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Feel free to use either a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer.
There are 9 Blue Plan SmartPoints in one serving of this.