Buttermilk Irish Soda Bread

Buttermilk Irish Soda Bread with Currants and Orange Zest

What’s better than toasted Irish Soda Bread slathered with Irish grass fed butter and a cup of tea?

This recipe incorporates the sweetness of currants with the tang of orange zest and buttermilk to complement the saltiness of a typical Irish soda bread

I used whole wheat pastry flour, but you can swap all purpose flour for a lighter/less dense bread

You don’t need to wait for St. Patrick’s Day to make this!

This is a quick bread that does not use yeast. It rises from the baking soda used as a leavening agent

Once it is cool enough to handle, I like to slice the soda bread, then toast in a toaster oven, and slather with some good quality Irish grass fed butter

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Buttermilk Irish Soda Bread with Orange Zest and Currants

Ingredients

4 cups whole wheat pastry flour, plus ½ cup set aside

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp coarse salt

4 tbsp unsalted butter – Keep refrigerated until ready to use

1 ½ cups buttermilk – Keep refrigerated until ready to use

1 egg

Zest of one orange

1 cup dried currants

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine 4 cups flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor with pastry blade

Pulse until dry ingredients are combined

Cut cold butter into small pieces, add to food processor, and pulse until butter is incorporated, about 10-15 pulses

In a large bowl whisk buttermilk, egg, and ½ of orange zest

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in ¼ batches, whisking to combine each batch

Dust currants with a small amount of remaining flour and mix – This keeps currants from clumping together

Mix floured currants into dough, which will be very wet

Using remaining flour, turn out dough onto a floured surface, and form dough into a round

Transfer round to a parchment lined baking sheet

Cut an X in the top of the dough, then sprinkle with remaining orange zest

Bake on center oven rack for 45 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean

If the Irish soda bread begins to over-brown during the baking process, loosely tent with a piece of parchment

The Irish soda bread should produce a hollow sound when it is done if you give it a tap

Cool on a baking rack before slicing