Mariclare Bakes: St. Patrick's Day Edition

Although most of the time people forget what St. Patrick's Day is about and where it originates, St. Patrick’s Day is actually a holiday commemorating the death of St. Patrick who lived in Ireland. Ireland has a special place in my heart. Many of my dad’s ancestors were from Ireland and my family members have taken many trips there. I used to love hearing the stories about Ireland and our family history. That is why I have decided to focus on the history of St. Patrick’s Day in this issue and make authentic Irish bread. And if you know anything about Irish breads, you will know about Irish soda bread. It is a classic Irish bread and it is delicious! It’s called soda bread because baking soda causes it to rise rather than yeast.

PSA: This is not my recipe. I used https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/grandmas-irish-soda-bread/ for my recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk

• 1 egg

• 4 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold

• 1 cup cherries (the original recipe uses raisins)

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then grease your pan of choice (further details on the original recipe link), I used a Dutch oven.

2. Mix the wet ingredients together, except the butter and then in a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients together.

3. Dice the butter and then use a pastry cutter or your hands to combine the butter with the flour.

4. Once the butter is pea sized, add in the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined.

5. everything is fully combined, place the dough in your pan and score an X on top.

6. Then bake for 45 minutes.

7. Once finished cooking, let the bread cool until warm and serve!

Reviews:

Ellie Faraci: 8/10 “I have never had Irish soda bread before but everything works well together and it doesn't have much of a flavor but I don’t think it's supposed to so I think that's a good thing.”

Fatima Muhammed: 8.5/10 “I have also never tried Irish soda bread before. The texture of the bread was very dense. Actually I liked the contrast of the cherries, it was really good and the crust was actually really good. Although it was dense, the crust was still crunchy.”

Madeleine Bigler: 7/10 “I have had soda bread before, so I know what soda bread is supposed to taste like. I think that it's good, it doesn't really taste like soda bread but it's good. I think it lacks a little sweetness but the cherry makes up for that. I personally liked the sugar on the crust of the soda bread. The texture of the bread is good how it's supposed to be.