Irish Soda Bread-the anti yeast

Bread without yeast is still bread, right? I hope so, or I failed as a bread maker. sigh. What about Irish Soda Bread without the baking soda? double sigh. I'll get to that later. My second attempt in bread making came from one of my favorite websites, 101 Cookbooks, by Heidi Swanson. She made a bread called, Irish Mum's Brown Bread, which can be sliced and should be eaten with Irish butter. Thanks Trader Joe's for being awesome and stocking Irish butter. mmmmmm.

The players

Mysteriously the 'soda' part of the Irish Soda Bread is missing from the picture.

The recipe was quite simple to follow which makes it even more embarrassing that I forgot to add the baking soda until it had been in the oven for a few minutes. Oops, first bread baking mistake. I quickly removed the dough from the oven, sprinkled it with the baking soda, tried to knead it into the dough and popped it back in the oven. *fingers crossed*

First things first, mix dry and wet ingredients together and ponder what shape the wet ingredients have created.  

 Next, mix it all up, but I'd use a fork if I were you. Wooden spoons are no good for mixing sticky ingredients. And guess what? No rising time! Plop it in the oven (with baking soda) and bake!

It was really was scrumptious with the Kerrygold Irish butter. 

I enjoyed this bread for its saltiness and heartiness. It probably would have tasted even better with a Guinness on the side too. Recipe can be found here.

Cheers,

-Marci