This American version is a bit different from most Irish soda breads in that the batter is moister and it's baked in a bread pan, rather than loosely shaped into a round and baked free-form with an X cut into the dough.
It's on the "cakey" side of the ISB spectrum rather than the far-right stoic Soda Bread with whole wheat flour and minimal sugar & butter.
I baked it in a 9" Pullman bread pan because I tend to donate these and cutting them into slices is more consistent with straight sides.
Oddly, I enjoy the end crusts of quick breads more than the inner slices. For example, zucchini, pumpkin and banana bread recipients never get the end pieces because those are for me. But with this bread, I thought the end pieces were very dry while the interior slices were moist and more flavorful. I also preferred it pan-toasted.
I used currants and some golden raisins to reach 1 cup and found I prefer raisins to currants. I did leave out the caraway seeds.
I'll definitely keep this as it's very similar to Marilyn O'Reilly's ISB that charlie posted years ago, which is baked as a free-form round. Having it in a sliceable loaf made it very easy for donations.
Thanks, Gay.
PS: I did manage to screw up the dry ingredients. The recipe calls for either AP flour or a pastry flour-blend. Since I had both KA AP flour and KA pastry flour, I measured out 50% of each flour to get a blend. Thankfully, the recipe gave weights which simplified that step. Then I weighed in the sugar and finally grabbed the raising agents: baking powder and baking soda. Then my brain jumped the gun and I measured in 1 TBL of baking SODA instead of baking powder because my brain was stuck in the rut of "this is a soda bread." I know, I know...that's just an excuse for poor mise en place, but I was able to scrap out the baking soda which was visible on top of the sugar. Then I added 1 TBL of baking powder and a mere 1/4 tsp (why?) of baking soda. I think the large amount of baking powder gave the cake the slightly airy texture. Still confused about the minimal baking soda since there was a LOT of buttermilk in this.
recipeswap.org
It's on the "cakey" side of the ISB spectrum rather than the far-right stoic Soda Bread with whole wheat flour and minimal sugar & butter.
I baked it in a 9" Pullman bread pan because I tend to donate these and cutting them into slices is more consistent with straight sides.
Oddly, I enjoy the end crusts of quick breads more than the inner slices. For example, zucchini, pumpkin and banana bread recipients never get the end pieces because those are for me. But with this bread, I thought the end pieces were very dry while the interior slices were moist and more flavorful. I also preferred it pan-toasted.
I used currants and some golden raisins to reach 1 cup and found I prefer raisins to currants. I did leave out the caraway seeds.
I'll definitely keep this as it's very similar to Marilyn O'Reilly's ISB that charlie posted years ago, which is baked as a free-form round. Having it in a sliceable loaf made it very easy for donations.
Thanks, Gay.
PS: I did manage to screw up the dry ingredients. The recipe calls for either AP flour or a pastry flour-blend. Since I had both KA AP flour and KA pastry flour, I measured out 50% of each flour to get a blend. Thankfully, the recipe gave weights which simplified that step. Then I weighed in the sugar and finally grabbed the raising agents: baking powder and baking soda. Then my brain jumped the gun and I measured in 1 TBL of baking SODA instead of baking powder because my brain was stuck in the rut of "this is a soda bread." I know, I know...that's just an excuse for poor mise en place, but I was able to scrap out the baking soda which was visible on top of the sugar. Then I added 1 TBL of baking powder and a mere 1/4 tsp (why?) of baking soda. I think the large amount of baking powder gave the cake the slightly airy texture. Still confused about the minimal baking soda since there was a LOT of buttermilk in this.
In Oven - American Irish Soda Bread King A. Flour
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/american-irish-soda-bread-recipe
recipeswap.org
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