SODA-BREAD(B)            USENET Cookbook            SODA-BREAD(B)

IRISH SODA BREAD

     SODA-BREAD - Two white soda loaves

     This is a basic soda bread, following the Irish mode.  I
     scaled up the recipe from one of Beard's, and changed it
     some.  It is quite crusty, and really all-purpose.  This
     soda bread takes around a third the time and a half the
     effort of a comparable yeast bread.  Since no yeast bread is
     much like it, I don't know what would be comparable.  People
     who have never tried a soda bread will note many differ-
     ences, like the order you add things (flour and then the
     liquid...).

INGREDIENTS (2 loaves)
     8 cups    white flour (unbleached)
     3-4 cups  buttermilk, at room temperature
     1 tsp     salt
     2 tsp     baking powder
     1.5 tsp   baking soda
     1 cup     currants (optional)
     1 tsp     butter or oil

PROCEDURE
          (1)  Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking
               soda, and salt.

          (2)  Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.

          (3)  Stir in  buttermilk, a cup at a time.  You should
               make a fairly soft dough that will nonetheless
               hold its shape.  Thus, you may need the full
               amount of buttermilk.

          (4)  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board (this
               is a stock phrase; do it anyway).  Knead until it
               is smooth and soft, probably about 7 minutes.  You
               should have to keep adding a little flour to the
               board for the first few minutes to keep the dough
               from sticking.

          (5)  Are you using currants? Knead them in, then.  Or
               don't, accordingly.

          (6)  Tear the dough in half.  Form each half into a
               ball.  With a knife, slash a cross in the top.

          (7)  Place the balls, cross up, well apart, on a
               greased baking sheet.

          (8)  Put this sheet, bread side up, into the oven.

          (9)  Bake for 35 or 40 minutes.  The loaves are done
               when they sound hollow at a knocking hand.  They
               should also get to be a nice light brown color.
               The cross will split open, and the resultant
               points will get hard and dark brown.  Soda bread
               has a tendency to crack in the oven.  This is no
               big deal.

NOTES
     You can substitute, per James Beard's recommendation, about
     4 cups of whole-wheat flour for half the white.  Since this
     will be heavier, use about 40% more baking powder. The bread
     made this way is markedly different.

RATING
     Difficulty: easy to moderate.  Time: 30 minutes building, 45
     minutes baking.  Precision: Measure the ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR
     David Hendler
     Aiken Computation Lab (Harvard Univ.)
     hendler@harvard.harvard.edu
     Path: decwrl!recipes
     From: guarino@decwrl.dec.com (Loretta Guarino Reid)
     Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
     Subject: RECIPE: Sopa Azteca (Aztec soup)
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     Date: 8 Apr 88 05:36:59 GMT
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