Kitchen Witch Imbolc: Irish Soda Bread

**Kitchen Witch Imbolc: Irish Soda Bread**

Imbolc is just around the corner! Since Imbolc originated as an Irish festival, I thought it would be nice to celebrate with a yummy loaf of Irish Soda Bread. The recipe is a classic from the Joy of Cooking Cookbook, circa 1967. I love these classic recipes since they didn’t have the same modern dietary hang-ups that many recipes demonstrate today. One unusual hang-up I have noticed from the era is a tendency to use shortening instead of butter or lard. I’m not sure where this trend came from – a leftover from wartime shortages, maybe? I’m not a fan of shortening, so I’ve put the butter back in. If you prefer, though, using shortening would be A-OK.

Pre-preparation: Measure out 6 tablespoons of butter or shortening and put it in the fridge to chill it. If you don’t have any buttermilk, you can substitute 1 cup of regular milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice; set it up now, before you get going, so it has time to sour properly. You will need a sifter and a pastry cutter, as well as a knife to cut a cross into the dough. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Ingredients: 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (have some extra flour around for kneading)

¾ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons of chilled butter or shortening

Flavouring time! Your options to add at this point are endless! The original recipe calls for:

½ cup raisins

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

My taste testers have suggested that the sweet raisins and savoury caraway seeds are not the best of taste combinations, so my suggestion is to go either sweet or savoury; don’t do both. You can choose rosemary (caraway seeds would probably be a good addition to rosemary), garlic, walnuts or other nuts, chocolate chips, bananas or other fruit, etc. It all depends on your taste! For my demonstration, I’ll be swapping out the original flavourings with:

½ cup Sultana raisins

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon has special significance to Imbolc!

Finally: 1 cup buttermilk

Small amount of milk

Preparation: Sift together the dry ingredients. Use your pastry cutter to cut the butter into the mixture; the dough should have the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Mix in your chosen flavourings. Gradually add your buttermilk. You’ll need to use your judgement here; many of us live in a dry climate and that requires more moisture added but you may not need the entire cup of milk. Once you reach the moist dough stage, and it’s holding together fairly well, it’s time to stop adding milk.

Now it’s kneading time! Sprinkle some flour on your prep surface, add some flour to your hands, and get kneading. You’ll know it’s ready when the dough no longer sticks to your hands and is smooth and elastic.

Grease your bread pan or oven-safe skillet and shape the dough by flattening it and rolling it into a loaf shape. Place it into your bread pan and cut a cross into the top of the bread (this is Imbolc. Make it a Brigid Cross!). This will prevent the crust from cracking. Brush the top of the loaf with milk and bake it for 40 minutes (if you’re in an area of high elevation, be sure to check it just before the 40-minute mark; baked goods often bake faster at high elevations). You’ll know it’s done when the crust bounces back when pressed, and/or a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove it from the pan immediately and let it cool. Slice and enjoy!

Article by Amanda Pitchford