irish soda bread

I tried a new recipe from the same recipe book that I made Curried Banana soup last week. (One of those 'too bizarre NOT to try' which was interesting but not fabulous though I've since discovered it works better as a cold dip.) While I was in Ireland I had some Irish Soda Bread and I thought it was really yummy. Heavier than the average bread you buy from the supermarket but I like that. I bought the necessary ingredients last week and so I've been looking forward to making it for a few days. Tonight I thought it would make a delicious tea alongside a bowl of soup.

So today while the boy ate his tea, I baked my first handmade loaf of bread.

The recipe explained at the beginning about where it came from and it said that the 'measurements' where rough estimations. Handfuls of this ingredient, dash of that... Made me smile. Sounds so homely. The lady kindly worked out the measurements to be able to put it in a book. However, the 'throw in' method is my kind of style. So while I did get the scales out I scooped out handfuls and blobs into my bowl. I also measured out the 450ml of buttermilk because I had two 278ml pots. Odd amount. (I figure it's about half a pint.) I added some extra flour too because I was pretty sure that 'mix into a dough' meant it shouldn't be sticking to the sides of the bowl and all over the spatula. I then shaped it and scored it and popped it in the oven.

Just over an hour later I sat down to some semi-cooled irish soda bread and tomato soup. Yummo! Though I do now think my tablespoon-of-sugar guess was a little on the side of exaggeration. ;) Still a success I say.