Irish soda bread heaven
This might seem like a strange preference, but soda bread is my favorite part of St. Patrick’s day. I would take a subtly sweet, moist, yet crumbly slice of that bread, spread with a little ghee, over corned beef or pint of Guinness any day.
This may be because growing up in England, you didn’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day unless you were Irish, and my Mum is a great baker so I developed a taste for the finer baked goods 😊
I certainly don’t remember going to the local chemists (pharmacy) to buy random green sweets (candy), headbands, necklaces, and seemingly un-Irish paraphernalia, that you will not pull out again until the next March 17th!
My first St. Patrick’s was celebrated in Stamford, CT when I was of an age where the pub and bar scene was a big deal, I could not believe how prolific the celebrations were! Good times. This bread would certainly have been a welcomed addition to the morning after comfort food.
Hangover or not, I still love the slightly sweet taste, paired with the flaky crust and moist interior with a cup of tea or accompanying a meal.
The recipe calls for gluten free flour for which I adopted my go-to gluten free blend that I always keep on hand (see below).
The following can be multiplied if you have a large enough container to store it in, but this makes enough for most common recipes, with some leftovers.
Homemade GF flour blend:
200g white rice
100g arrowroot
100g sorghum (black dot for you but should be ok if avoided for 8 weeks)
100g brown rice.
As a general guidance, if I’m using it for baking something like 12 cupcales or muffins, I add the following to the recipe to make this a 1-for-1 all purpose baking substitution:
1/2 tsp xantham
1 tsp psyllium husk powder
In this recipe I used the flour blend plain and added xantham and psyllium per the recipe below. You can exclude them but the consistency might be more crumbly.
Buttermilk:
I make the buttermilk in this recipe using 1 cup of non-dairy milk (I like Good Karma Flax Milk) with juice of ½ lemon, combined and left to ‘sour’ for about 10 minutes.
The base recipe was on https://mygluten-freekitchen.com, to which I then made my tweaks.
Ingredients:
3 cups (375g) gluten-free flour blend (see notes above)
1 tsp. xanthan gum (exclude if GF blend includes it)
1 tsp psyllium husk powder (optional but recommended)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tbsp cold, unsalted butter or ghee, cut in small pieces (I used 50:50 ghee :butter)
2/3 cup dried fruit (currants, raisins, goldenberries, junipers, chopped dates)
1 cup buttermilk (see notes above)
1 egg, room temperature
For brushing on loaf:
1 Tbsp. melted butter or ghee
1 Tbsp. buttermilk
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside. If making buttermilk (see notes above), combine milk and lemon juice in a measuring jug or non reactive bowl now, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum and psyllium (if needed/using), sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. TIP: do this and step 3 in the food processor for extra even crumb … and cleaner hands!
3. Using a pastry cutter or fingers and thumbs, cut/rub the butter into the flour mixture until pea-sized crumbs.
4. Stir in the dried fruit.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk and egg then add to the flour/butter mixture.
6. Start with a spatula to gently stir, then switch to using your hands to mix the batter together to form a wet dough that you can form into a ball.
7. Dough will be quite sticky, but you should be able to tip the somewhat-formed dough out on to the cookie sheet and make into a ball shape. This might be easier if you have slightly wet hands.
8. In a separate bowl, combine 1 Tbsp. melted butter and 1 Tbsp. buttermilk. Using a pastry brush, brush the whole loaf with the butter/buttermilk mixture.
9. Use a knife to cut an X shape in the top of the loaf.
10. Bake at 375° for about 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown.
11. Let cool on pan for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. No need to serve this hot, it tastes great and cuts better when cooled off!
