Mrs. O'Duffy's Soda Bread
If you like you can substitute part unbleached all-purpose white flour for an equivalent amount of the whole-wheat flour. Your result will still have plenty of flavor and texture. If you must get into it before it cools, break, rather than cut, the loaf.
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats (thick preferred; certainly not instant)
- 3 cups (14 ounces) whole-wheat flour, the best that can be had
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ tablespoons organic sugar or evaporated cane juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons cold butter
- 1¼ cups buttermilk, or yogurt thinned with whole milk
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
- ½ cup currants or raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Whiz the dry ingredients in a food processor for a few pulses. Cut the butter in 1/2-inch slices and add; pulse until like meal.
- Turn mixture into large bowl. Quickly and lightly stir in the remaining ingredients, adding a bit more liquid if needed. Do not knead.
- Pat the dough into a flattened round on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Act decisively and swiftly. Incise a deep cross into the loaf, and pop it in the oven.
- Bake about 70 to 80 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a rack most of the way before breaking into it. Slices very well when entirely cool. It keeps far better, wrapped airtight, than most chemically-leavened breads.