I’m Irish on my mom’s side. (Shout out to the Donnelly and Murray clans!)
But my mom doesn’t make Irish Soda Bread because one of her best friends Ann (who is Irish), makes great Irish soda bread and for years shared it with our family on St. Patrick’s Day. And if you have a best friend who makes great Irish soda bread, you don’t have to. (Not that my mom needs an excuse not to bake Irish soda bread because not everyone loves to be in the kitchen, right Ma?)
I don’t have Ann’s recipe.
But my friend April also makes amazing Irish Soda Bread.
Like I said, YAY for friends!
But April doesn’t live in Montana. So she shared her recipe with me nearly two years ago and all my Irish soda bread cravings were abated. This is easy and delicious and I bet you will love it as much as we do.
Also … yes, there’s white flour and brown sugar in this recipe. We make sourdough or long-rise bread for daily consumption, but this is a “memory” food for me, and I don’t want to mess with the recipe since it’s something we enjoy only a few times a year.
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 oz white flour/bread flour*
- 6 oz whole wheat flour
- 1 oz rolled oats (whiz them up if they are big)
- 1 oz wheat germ (I used 1 oz ground flax seed because I didn’t have wheat germ)
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- a little less than ½ TBLS cream of tartar
- 1 TBLS baking soda
- ¼ Cup brown sugar (preferably dark brown)
- 22 oz plain unsweetened kefir (I used 2 1/4 cups of plain whole milk yogurt)
- for the BOTTOM of the pan – 1 small handful of rolled oats
- for the TOP – 3 TBLS of seeds of your choice (1 TBLS of each: pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, etc.)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While preheating, put in a cast iron dutch oven that’s been rubbed with Olive Oil. (Or, if you’re like me and don’t generally cook with Olive Oil, try Avocado Oil.) The dutch oven (with the top on) should be in while preheating the entire time.
Mix everything in order with a wooden spoon, except the kefir (yogurt). Once the dry ingredients are mixed, add the kefir (yogurt). Stir until combined. The dough will be sticky. Don’t over mix.
Take out the preheated skillet. Sprinkle more rolled oats on the bottom of the pan. You don’t need to cover the bottom, just sprinkle a small handful. Pour the dough into the pan, and you should hear a sizzle. Make sure the dough is touching all sides of the pan. Top with combination of three or four of the following (I used pumpkin, chia, sesame and a few more rolled oats): pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, etc. Cover.
Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to bake for another 20 minutes**. The crust should be browned and solid. Take the bread out of the pan to cool.
Makes ONE loaf.
Everyone together now: “THANK YOU, APRIL!”
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!!
xo,
Jeanne
* at our high altitude in Bozeman, I add an extra quarter cup of bread flour
** also at our altitude, I bake for 35 minutes, but am leaving April’s recipe the way she makes it because so many of our readers don’t live at this altitude!