Irish Soda Bread

By grassickkitchen

From the faimily back in Scotland.

Ingredients

• Sour Milk:
• 4 cups shifted flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbp water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups dark raisins
• 1 1/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 Tbp caraway seeds
• 1 1/3 Tbp white vinegar
• 1/1 /3 cups whole milk

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together in a large bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, caraway seeds and salt. Add butter and cut it in with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is the consistency of coarse corn meal. Stir in the raisins. Place buttermilk (or sour milk), egg and baking soda in a small bowl and beat together with a mixer until blended. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until the dry ingredients are blended in.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly about 3 minutes, until dough is smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and place on a greased cookie sheet. With a sharp knife cut an X about ½ inch deep into the top of the dough. Beat together the egg yolk and water with the mixer until blended. Brush the egg yolk mixture over the top of the dough.

Bake @ 375o for 60 – 70 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove bread form the oven and cool on a wire rack.


To make sour milk: Stir 1 1/3 Tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/3 cups milk and let stand 5 minutes before using.