For years I’ve made Ballymaloe’s Brown Soda Bread, and we’ve always liked it, but this year I decided to try their white for my St. Patrick’s Day dinner. I don’t know what the hold out was on my part – some nod to tradition combined with a commitment to eat more whole grains. I feel like a sinner, but this bread is so beautiful!

Ballymaloe’s Irish Soda Bread

If you’ve had Soda Bread before, you probably know it’s great still a little warm from the oven and left overs? Well, not so much, but they still make great toast. I have a little something in store for that left over bread, though, so bear with me and I’ll have a post soon. * See left overs at bottom of page!

Chef Rory O’Connel, a former Chef at Ballymaloe, has a great interview on Epicurious where he talks about Irish Soda Bread, its history and traditions. He explains, among other things, the reason Irish Soda Bread always has a cross carved into it before  baking:

“It’s scientific, primarily, because it allows the heat to penetrate into the thickest part of the bread, so it assists cooking. And obviously the cross is a cruciform shape, so in a Catholic country that had a resonance—it had the symbolic note of crossing the breads and giving thanks. There was also the expression “to let the devil out of the bread,” so it was slightly superstitious. And if you make that cruciform shape on the bread, when it comes out of the oven it breaks beautifully. So you’ve got the blessing of the bread by putting the cross on it and then you’ve got the symbolic breaking of the bread.”

Ballymaloe’s Irish Soda Bread

One issue I had with the Ballymaloe recipe is that the dough was just a little too wet, and pretty consistently so. I made a slight adaptation in the recipe to hold a bit of the milk back, then add if needed. That method makes it a bit easier to get a good tender loaf than trying to work additional flour into the dough. Do make sure the dough is very moist, much moister than a kneaded type dough; it should be very, very soft and just be able to be picked up and patted into shape.

As a matter of fact, this dough when properly mixed was much wetter than any soda bread recipe I’ve made before, and was cooked at a much higher temperature. It is also the best soda bread I’ve ever had. I guess those Irish know a little sumpin’ about making Irish Soda Bread!?! Admittedly this was not as high rising as some of our American Soda Breads, but was much better tasting!

This bread takes no time at all to mix up by hand or with a spoon. Handle it gently! Do not beat, knead, make in a food processor or otherwise mistreat it and you’ll be rewarded.

At Ballymaloe, they recommend buttermilk or sour milk. Since our milk here in the States is pasteurized or ultra pasteurized, it’s not recommended to use sour milk any longer, even in baking. My simplified “layman’s” understanding is that there are not enough “good” bacteria cultures left to crowd out any potential dangerous ones.

Many do use sour milk, though, if the milk is just slightly “off” but it might not be acidic enough to react with the soda. Add a little vinegar, just to be sure. Use 2 1/2 tablespoons in the cup, then pour in milk to two and a half cups.

Ballymaloe’s Irish Soda Bread

Nutrition:

Per average slice: Calories 120; Total Fat 1g 1%; Saturated Fat 1g 1%; Monounsaturated Fat 0; Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g; Trans Fat 0 g; Cholesterol 2 mg 1%; Sodium 267mg 11%; Potassium 89mg 3%; Total Carbohydrate 24g 8%; Dietary Fiber 1g 3%; Sugars 2g; Protein 4g 8%; Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 1%; Calcium 4%; Iron 0%

Kitchen Slicer:

If you bake a lot of bread, you might want to consider a kitchen slicer! You can see how beautifully my cheap ones worked on this loaf! I also use mine for a number of different things.

30 to 35 bucks – never buy lunch meat again & cuts so many things a food processor won’t.

 Left Overs?

I was going to post my take on these Farmhouse Cheese & Caraway Bread Puddings made with Irish Soda Bread. I didn’t like them! They were gorgeous when they cooked up, taste was fine, but the texture was off putting. I could have just posted them; they photographed beautifully, but that would have put me into the Lies, Lies and More Lies Category. Check out the recipe if you’d like; maybe it was just me.

I thought I might make a second go of the puddings with a few adjustments – less liquid, more cheese, perhaps even a little bacon, but Gibson snatched the remainder of the Soda Bread off the counter and devoured it in about 20 seconds flat.

My second thought was to use the slices as crostini! Toast them in the oven and spread them with my Mother’s Smoky Salmon Spread. I’ll still post the spread, but on another bread.

When you have a nearly 100 pound labrador, well, counter cruising is something that happens now and then. *sighs.*

Gibson – This was winter of 2013 – 2014; our snow is gone now! 🙂 Those little curly things are candle holders. I forgot to pull them out before the ground froze and they stand about 4 to 4 1/2 feet off the ground. My neighbor took the photo when Gibson bounded over to say hi!

Let’s talk about how to save money/time on this recipe:

• Use a coupon matching site! One of my favorites in my area is Pocket Your Dollars, but every store has a group of enthusiastic Coupon Matchers. Do not discount the savings! I check their site every week, even if I don’t “need” to go to the store and often find bargains I can’t pass up.
• Follow my 12 Strategies – You’ll see them on the upper drop down menu of every page and how I apply them, below.
• Don’t get discouraged if your prices don’t match mine! Keep shopping at the best prices and your fridge/freezer and pantry will be stocked with sales priced ingredients.
• Read Strategies Applied for additional tips as well as throughout the recipe, for saving time and managing food.