Unlike a lot of the things we Americans associate with Ireland and Irish culture, Irish Soda Bread really is Irish, and when made fresh, it really is fantastic. It's as common on Irish tables, whether at home or at the local, as corn bread or biscuits (also traditionally made with baking soda as a leavening ingredient) is in the American South, and in many ways, Irish Soda Bread fills the same culinary comfort food niche. It's also dead easy to make, and super quick. It's a fun recipe to make with kids, too.
The basic ingredients of Irish Soda Bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk absolutely is crucial, both in terms of the leavening chemistry, and the flavor. If you don't have buttermilk, you can make an ok substitute by adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk. Traditional additions to Irish Soda Bread include raisins and caraway seeds, separately or together. It's a bread that's best consumed when it it's hot and fresh from the oven, or toasted for breakfast the next day. This is not a time to be frugal with butter; good fresh butter makes this amazing bread even better—but having said that, it's also startlingly good with high quality olive oil, or just a little fresh local honey drizzled on top.
I will confess to having gone beyond the traditional additives of caraway seeds and raisins, and added dried tomatoes (soak them for a few minutes in warm water, then drain and chop, or microwave them in a mostly covered dish with a few tablespoons of water to steam and soften them), dried cranberries (I highly recommend the orange-infused cranberries), and grated lemon or orange rind.
This is a quick bread; that means it rises quickly, and, even more importantly, you don't want to mix or handle it or knead past the point of being mixed. If you over-knead or over handle, it will be tough and rather unpleasant. You bake most Irish Soda Bread in a greased cast iron frying pan (much the best way!) or as a flat roundish loaf on a cookie sheet that you've greased and sprinkled with corn meal.
For the best, easiest to make, and most clear instructions for making Irish Soda Bread, see Elise's Irish Soda Bread Recipe. Elise offers an equally yummy Irish Soda Bread With Caraway Seeds recipe, and a slightly-sweeter variant suitable for an Irish tea, with Irish Soda Biscuits. And for the adventurous, here's a lovely slightly sweet Irish bread made with self-rising flour and Guinness; self-rising flour already has baking soda added— Guinness Bread with Molasses Recipe.
If you really want a traditional Irish meal, skip the corned beef and cabbage, and serve Irish Soda Bread with Colcannon.
Image Credit: Heather "Moria"