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Community Corner

A Magically Delicious Recipe

Enjoy some Irish Soda Bread this St. Patty's Day!

Even though I have nary a drop of Irish blood in me, I still love all things Irish. I proudly wear my Claddagh ring while I pound my fists into a big lump of Irish Soda Bread dough.

While Ireland is not well-known for its cuisine—in fact, most people mock the cuisine for being composed of bland boiled potatoes. However, I find I love to indulge in several Irish culinary delights when St. Patrick's Day rolls around.

The popular Irish stout Guinness pairs really nice with chocolate so you can make Guinness chocolate cake, cupcakes, brownies, etc. Or how about some old-fashioned Irish Lamb Stew made with chunks of lamb, cut up potatoes, leeks and some carrots? My favorite is Irish Soda Bread, freshly baked and right out of the oven, served hot and sliced with a bit of butter. 

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Irish Soda Bread gets its name because the rising agent is baking soda rather than yeast, which is commonly used in most breads. Traditionally, it's made with raisins and carraway seeds. You can easily add carraway seeds to this recipe but I decided to leave them out. I also added some orange zest to give the bread a citrus flavor boost.

Ingredients:

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4 cups of flour
2 tbsps of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt
4 tbsps of cold butter diced
1 egg beaten
1-3/4 cups of cold buttermilk
orange zest (to taste)
1 cup of plump raisins (don't get the boxed ones)
1 tablespoon of flour

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Dust your raisins with the a little bit of flour. Set aside. Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Chop up your butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Smush the pieces of butter in the flour mixture with your fingers. Add your buttermilk, egg and orange zest and with a large spatula, incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry. Then take a handheld mixer and at a low speed, incorporate the ingredients thoroughly. Add the raisins and work into the dough with your hands. Your hands will get sticky so you can dust them with flour beforehand to make this process easier.

Scoop out the dough and lay it out on a well-floured surface. Knead the dough and dust it with flour as you go. Knead it until it forms a nice lump that you can form into a round, but flat ball of dough. Make sure not to over-knead.

Add your round and flat dough ball to a greased baking sheet. With a knife, cut an X on the top of the bread. Bake in your preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

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