St. Patty's Day Irish Soda Bread

Today is St. Patrick's Day. I have a green head band in my hair, and that is about the extent of my lucky charmingness. I'm not Irish. I didn't really ever know the point of St. Patrick's Day. On the other hand. Ethan grew up in a home where every holiday is celebrated to the fullest. His mom puts up a  craft tree with hearts for Valentine's Day, a tree with bunnies and eggs for Easter. You get the point, yeah? The excitement for St. Patrick's Day is an awesome thing with his family. His grandma is a proud Irishwoman, and she passed that pride down. I have even gotten a St. Patty's day present from her. It's awesome and I have now started looking forward to St. Patty's with a similar excitement.

Like I have said before, Ethan's family is full of great cooks! While we were still first dating, he wanted to also impress ME with HIS cooking. He would get a family recipe in his head, call his mom for the ingredients, and make something up. With the ease that his mom always shows, Ethan cooks with confidence and courage. After many calls home, his family decided to make him a cookbook for his birthday. It's filled with recipe cards from every person in his family, pictures in the kitchen, and a whole lot of love. I find myself picking up this book often when I want to make something special for Eth. 

By far, one of our favorite recipes is Diana's (AWARD WINNING) Irish Soda bread. But I have never made it solo. Ethan has been a little under the weather the last couple days. And I have been gone the last few days at a photography conference (more on that later). So last night, I really wanted to do something nice for him. I wanted to give him a taste of home and comfort. Thus, Irish Soda bread stuck in my mind. 

I can tell you, this is a messy recipe. It was overwhelming and I thought I screwed it up. But! The dough is meant to be dry I found out, because the bread is supposed to be dense. It's very forgiving, and I am very thankful! This bread is good for any time of day, I may or may not be snacking on a piece right now before I head off to work.....

Get your brave boots on and try out this bread.
Don't know what soda bread is? Wiki it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups currants or golden raisins (or mix them!)
• 1 and 1/3 cup buttermilk (there is no substituting this)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda 

DIRECTIONS

ZERO: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease baking sheet

Step one: Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a large bowl

Step two: Cut in butter with pastry cutter (or fork) until the flour mixture resembles coarse cornmeal

Step three: Stir in dired fruit

Step four: Combine buttermilk, egg, and baking soda in medium bowl, then stir into flour mixture until just moistened

Step five: Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Shape into a ball and placed on greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, make a 3'' cross, 1/4 inch deep in center

Step six: Bake for an hour or until lightly browned

Enjoy alone or with butter, with friends or a Guinness. But as always, eat well! Be well! And subscribe by email below :)