Marilyn O'Reilly's Irish Soda Bread: Thought I'd repost this - recipe originally posted by charlie

made this last night, thanks

doubled it for two. I went light on the caraway at about half - 2T instead of 4T and it still has a very nice contrasting flavor. I went conservative on the first baking at 15 min but I think that was a mistake as I ended up doing the second for 30 and the center was slightly over moist.

http://eat.at/dnd/paul/sodabread.jpg

 
I think I will try this instead of my usual from BC. I like the BC one because it is like a biscuit

- a giant, yummy biscuit. The Mary O'Reilly one is very close, except it includes an egg, which would make it more like a scone.

What might be better than a biscuit? A scone! smileys/bigsmile.gif

Irish Soda Bread from Betty Crocker's Cookbook
(1988 version)

3 TBS margarine or butter, softened
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup raisins, if desired
3/4 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 375ºF. Cut butter into flour, sugar, soda, powder and salt with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in raisins and just enough buttermilk so dough leaves the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, Knead until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Shape into round loaf, about 6 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Cut an X about 1/2 inch deep through the loaf with floured knife. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Brush with softened , if desired.

1 loaf (12 servings)
125 calories per serving

 
it looks like cutting the cross deeper is also something that I should have done

 
I really liked this - it is sweeter than the one I normally do, but not a bad thing.

I took pics, but am too lazy to get them off the camera right now.

smileys/bigsmile.gif

The dough is very wet, but that makes for a really nice tender bread. I baked it for 20 minutes at 400º, then another 18 minutes at 350º and it was done perfectly.

I don't put the raisins in it either.

 
Hmm, I guess I will have to make another loaf to have with leftovers tomorrow and see

which one we like better. smileys/wink.gif

 
I tried the one with 1/4 cup sugar tonight - DH and I both prefer the one with 1/2 cup.

It was interesting to me that the dough with less sugar was more dry and crumbly than the other. The baked texture of the one with less sugar was also a bit more crumbly and slightly less moist.

Now - a question about the crust, especially the bottom. I find with this and regular biscuits, the bottoms get done before the rest of the biscuit/bread is baked, and tend to get over-done, too thick and crusty.

I have the oven rack in the highest position - should I turn the temp down a bit?

 
I'm glad I always did the original version with 1/2 cup sugar - it's perfect! Yeah, it makes sense

that the one with 1/4 cup sugar was drier, since sugar adds moisture.

I've never experienced the bottom being overdone in my oven, and I bake it on the lower middle rack, plus I have an electric oven, and the heating coil is on the bottom. I'm not sure why yours is coming out overdone. Maybe you can try baking it in a double pan, ie, 2 pans/one inside the other, so it's more insulated on the bottom. By the way, are you by any chance using dark nonstick pans?

 
Interesting, I'm doing a recipe purge now and one of the criteria I use for baked goods is when

the recipe uses what seems to be an inordinate amount of sugar in proportion to the flour. Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree, so to speak. Thanks for the feed back.

 
When there's a ridiculous amount of sugar, I always reduce it. In this case, the 1/2 cup is a very

low amount of sugar in proportion to the 3 cups of flour.

 
Wow! That's insane! Even too much to reduce without major compromise. It should

have about half to 2/3 the amount of sugar, depending on the other ingredients - good thing you dumped it!

 
Here it is, I started wondering if I read it wrong, I didn't. No wonder her kids like it.

Moist Pumpkin Bread

"This pretty quick bread is the only thing my kids will eat when they don't feel good," writes Tammy Neubauer from Ida Grove, Iowa.•3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

•3 cups sugar
•2 teaspoons baking soda
•2 teaspoons salt
•2 teaspoons ground allspice
•1 teaspoon baking powder
•1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
•4 eggs
•1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
•3/4 cup canola oil
•2/3 cup water

Directions
•In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, oil and water. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour into three greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans.
• Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 3 loaves (16 slices each).

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Moist-Pumpkin-Bread

 
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