{"id":9307,"date":"2011-03-15T04:00:39","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T08:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=9307"},"modified":"2011-03-14T15:14:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T19:14:00","slug":"surprise-soda-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=9307","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Soda Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I love Saint Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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As I noted a couple of years ago on this blog in a discussion of my unsainted great-grandmother<\/a>, I\u2019m only marginally Irish. Nevertheless, I\u2019ve always embraced this holiday.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
It\u2019s cheerful at a time when the landscape in my beloved New England is gloomy.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It\u2019s associated with any number of popular Irish and Irish-American songs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Some are humorous, such as \u201cWho Threw the Overalls in Mistress Murphy\u2019s Chowder\u201d and \u201cHarrigan.\u201d Only George M. Cohan could have constructed the interior rhymes in the latter.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Others are sentimental to the point of being maudlin. Since a lot of beer is drunk on this holiday no one objects. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I fully expect to evoke tears from the audience when I pay musical tribute to \u201cme mither\u201d during my little solo at our local Saint Patrick\u2019s Day concert. (I\u2019ll be singing \u201cAn Irish Lullaby.\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I also love Saint Patrick\u2019s Day because I look fabulous in green.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
And because I love, love, love soda bread.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve already posted recipes for white<\/a> and whole-wheat soda bread<\/a>. This year I\u2019m using a recipe cribbed (with thanks!) from Cabot Cheese<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
As soon as I saw Cabot\u2019s Cheddar Soda Bread<\/a> I knew it would be just the thing to serve with corned beef and cabbage or Irish beef<\/a> or lamb stew<\/a>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

I have changed the recipe a little, of course.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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First, I upped the Irish ante by using Irish cheddar\u2014laced with porter. The marbled cheese gave the bread a gorgeous mottled look. The original cheddar might taste sharper, but this version still had lots of cheesiness. I can\u2019t wait to try this cheese in my Irish cheese fondue<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Second, I switched Cabot\u2019s salted butter to unsalted (there\u2019s plenty of sodium in this recipe without more in the butter\u2014and I say this as a girl who loves her salt) and used Kerrygold<\/a> Irish butter.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Third, I threw in some caraway seeds. They are often used in soda bread. I find them a little strong in sweet breads, but they complement this savory recipe beautifully.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Enjoy\u2014but eat sparingly. This bread is very filling.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

And if you\u2019re in Alexandria, Virginia, Thursday night, come sing along with me and the Montebello Singers….<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Surprise Soda Bread<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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2-1\/2 cups flour
\n2 teaspoons baking powder
\n1 teaspoon baking soda
\n1\/2 teaspoon salt
\n1 teaspoon caraway seeds
\n1\/4 cup (1\/4 of a 1\/2-pound package) Irish butter
\n1\/2 pound Irish cheddar with porter (or stout!), grated
\n1 cup buttermilk
\n1 egg<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line it with a silicone mat.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and caraway seeds. Stir in the cheese and blend well.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. Stir them gently into the dry ingredients.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured board and knead it a few times, until it holds together into a slightly flattened ball.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Pop your ball onto the prepared cookie sheet. You may cut a cross in the center, but my cutting wasn\u2019t very successful so I would leave well enough alone.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Bake until the loaf has light brown spots and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean\u201435 to 40 minute or so.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Slice into small wedges (12 to 14).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Makes 1 loaf.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Did I mention that I like to wear green?<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I love Saint Patrick\u2019s Day. \u00a0 As I noted a couple of years ago on this blog in a discussion of my unsainted great-grandmother, I\u2019m only marginally Irish. Nevertheless, I\u2019ve always embraced this holiday. \u00a0 It\u2019s cheerful at a time when the landscape in my beloved New England is gloomy. \u00a0 It\u2019s associated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,17],"tags":[1436,1437,223,342],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9307"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9421,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9307\/revisions\/9421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}