Irish Soda Bread: License to Eat

Perhaps it's blasphemous to say this given that my first name is Brennan, but I don't get too excited about St. Patrick's Day. Sure, I'll wear green, but there will be no corned beef and cabbage (mostly because I don't care too much for corned beef) and I certainly won't be dancing any alcohol-enabled jigs while belting out "Oh Danny Boy". You don't want to hear me do any belting anyway...

What this holiday does provide me, however, is a perfect excuse to make Irish Soda Bread. And that in itself is reason enough to celebrate.

This recipe comes from an Irish pub in my hometown, where my sister conveniently worked in the kitchen. While I do not advocate smoking, the breaks necessary to undertake this unhealthy habit provided her with the ideal opportunity to engage in some James Bond-esque covert culinary operations, namely calling my mother to write down the three ingredients at a time that my sister could remember of this bread recipe. 

After enough smoking breaks to encompass all of the ingredients, they had a complete recipe - one that called for 36 cups flour, 9 cups sugar, 2 dozen eggs, 3 sticks of butter, 21 cups of buttermilk, and 21 cups of raisins, not to mention baking soda and baking powder enough to powder coat an entire patio set. While ingredient quantities of these magnitudes are advantageous for restaurant preparations, the recipe fortunately reduced successfully enough that you don't have to make enough of it to feed the entire population of Dublin every time you want some Irish Soda Bread.

The recipe for this simply delicious bread is deliciously simple, and I applaud the sly machinations of my sister for providing it to us. James Bond would be proud - or at least the one played by Pierce Brosnan, anyway, since he was the only Irishman to play the role.

Irish Soda Bread
recipe adapted from an Irish-like pub that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent my sister

6 cups all-purpose white flour

1½ cups sugar

4 eggs

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons salt

3½ cups buttermilk

2½ cups raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients except raisins in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix until well combined. It will be more of a batter than a dough. Fold raisins into batter until incorporated throughout. Pour into two greased (but NOT floured) 9” cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Yield: two 9-inch breads

Note: While the ingredient quantities above would suggest that further reducing is possible, this is the smallest batch that my mom and sister were able to successfully execute.