Much like the soda bread I first tried in county Tipperary in Ireland my great grandmother's recipe tastes authentic enough to me.
Chef's notes
My mother talks about her grand mother's soda bread but she never made it for me when I was growing up. My great grand mother was long gone before I came along and it took visiting Ireland to taste this simple peasant bread before I knew it's allure. Thankfully mom kept the recipe so now we can all give it a try. "Slainte"
Steps
1
Sifting the dry ingrediants
Ingredients
4 cups flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
2
Cut in the Butter
Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
Using a pastry cutter cut the butter into the dry ingredients till it resembles a coarse meal.
3
Add the milk and shape
Ingredients
1 cup of milk
Mix the dough till combined but don't over mix as you don't want to create too much gluten.
Once it's come together turn out the dough on a floured counter top and shape into a ball. using a bench scraper cut the ball into two pieces and shape each one into a ball. I will take the ball and fold it in half, turn it 45 degrees and do this about 4 times. Again if you over work the dough you'll create gluten and the bread will be tough. I tuck the edge under the bottom to make a perfect round.
4
Cut the top
Ingredients
corn meal
Before you place the balls onto a parchment lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Lightly spread some corn meal around.
With a sharp knife cut an X into the top of each loaf.
Place in oven for 30 - 35 minutes or till when you tap the bottom of the loaf it sounds hollow.
