St. Paddy's Day Soda Bread

You know those ultimate comfort foods that instantly trigger a feeling of warmth? Irish soda bread is one of my comfort foods. It brings me back to sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, among the scent of baking potatoes and corned beef (which I insisted was called beef corn), snacking on a loaf of homemade soda bread. My grandmother, a native of the Emerald Isle, makes an amazing bread. But being the raisin fanatic that I am, I always wanted more raisins. Must be my sweet tooth. I realize that adding raisins to my loaf makes me an Irish impostor. But my blood will tell you otherwise, so I'm not ashamed to add more than the called-for amount of raisins to my bread.  I added a touch more buttermilk than was called for but kept the baking time at an hour, just to ensure the inside would remain moist. 

On this year's St. Paddy's I prepared the soda bread for eight friends. The evening was filled with a whole lot of Irish imitation... Guinness stew, Guinness floats, and you guessed it... Guinness. We all anticipated going out to continue the celebration, but instead stayed parked on my couch enjoying good food and good company. It's rare that I get so many friends together in one room. So I sat back, sliced myself another piece of soda bread, sipped my stout, and reflected on how much I love cooking for my friends.

Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from the Food Network

5 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
2 1/2 cups raisins (or 3 c if you're a fanatic like me)
3 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups buttermilk  (I probably added an extra 1/8 of a cup)
1 large egg, slightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter 2 (9 by 5-inch) bread pans.

Stir together the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the butter and mix very thoroughly with your hands until it gets grainy. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds.

Add the buttermilk and egg to the flour mixture. Stir until well moistened. Shape dough into 2 loaves and place in the pans.

Bake for 1 hour.