Recipe ~ Aunt Mary's Irish Soda Bread

Aunt Mary’s Irish Soda Bread

If you can’t trust a Mary Catharine Gallagher for
Irish Soda Bread…who can you trust?

This is an old Irish Family’s recipe.

4 C Flour
1 C Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Caraway Seeds
Buttermilk (1 C, but may need more)
1 Egg
¼ C Butter
1 ½ C Golden Raisins
½ C Currants

Aunt Mary used measuring methods such as, fill the sifter full of flour; a good chunk of butter; 2 fist fulls of raisins…(smile)

Soak raisins and currants in hot water. Measure flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and caraway seeds into a large mixing bowl; cut in butter until resembles coarse crumbs. Drain water off of fruit; add to flour mixture. Mix egg with 1 C Buttermilk. Pour Buttermilk into the dry ingredients, mix well until everything is wet and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Add more milk if needed. Place onto floured counter; knead slightly to form a round loaf.

Place in a HOT iron frying pan which has been greased and floured. Cut a large cross nearly through the loaf. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes; then lower the temperature to 250 degrees and bake an additional 60 minutes. Remove from oven and while still hot, brush with mixture of 5 TBSP sugar and ¼ C of evaporated milk (mixed well). Turn out on wire rack when cool.