irish soda bread

By KimberlyB

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 cups white unbleached bread flour or all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon Ener-G baking soda
• 1 tablespoon Featherweight baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups lowfat buttermilk (with less than 130 mg sodium per 1 cup)*
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1/2 cup seedless golden raisins, not packed
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly coat a 5x9-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray, then dust lightly with flour; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the 3 cups flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.
2.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg; add buttermilk and melted butter. Stir in currants, raisins, and caraway seed. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened.
3.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing dough for 10 to 12 strokes or until dough is nearly smooth. Transfer dough to the prepared loaf pan.
4.
Bake on middle oven rack about 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. Can store covered on the counter-top or in the refrigerator.