irish soda bread with golden raisins

Irish Soda Bread with Golden Raisins

The finished product you get from this recipe is delicious! Toasted and drizzled with honey.... it's out of this world! You only need about an hour to make this bread from start to finish, but it's much better if you let it sit a while before slicing.

Here's what you need:

2 C flour (I always use unbleached)

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ (this comes in a jar, already toasted)

1 t baking soda (make sure it's fresh)

1/2 t salt

1/2 stick butter, very cold and cut in small cubes

1 C golden raisins - these are more tangy than regular raisins and perfect in this bread

1 C buttermilk OR plain yogurt (I used yogurt today)
Here's what you do:

Mix the dry ingredients.

Add the cold, cubed butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the dry mixture starts to look more like clumps of sand. Keep going until the butter is evenly incorporated into the flour mixture.

Toss in the raisins and then add the buttermilk or yogurt.

Stir with a wooden spoon. I always have trouble getting all the dry part fully incorporated into the wet.... I end up leaving a bit of flour in the bowl.
Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead for only 1 minute - I find I have to add flour to the board during this part --the dough is soft and kinda wet.

Place dough on a floured baking sheet.

Cut a shallow X across the top of the loaf.

Bake for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.

This recipe is from a very old Gourmet Magazine. The note in the article says the recipe comes from County Cork in Ireland, so it must be pretty authentic. Try it and let me know what you think. It's one of my son's favorite breads toasted for breakfast. I go through a box of golden raisins often and I think you will too!