Irish Soda Bread

Sure it looks strange, but it actually tastes good. I always question recipes that say 'using your fingers, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.' I end up with messy hands and poorly mixed dough. But I gave it another go, weighed the flour first, tried not to 'overmix', 'kneaded just enough to tidy up', and put the mass on the baking sheet. It came out alright. Word has it that at least one person would actually pay me to make it again. Also, I could not decide between raisins or currants, so I used both. (See the big picture.) What the hell are sultanas, anyway? For a more presentable soda bread, see this one.

Comments

[yve]

Imagine my surprise when two of my daily required reading blogs featured soda bread this morning! I'll be weighing in later this weekend with my own rendition. Now, if I only had a blog. But, never mind. Sultanas are what the British, and certain self-described fancy ladies refer to as ordinary golden raisins -- available right here in the colonies in your grocer's dried fruit and other oddities section. I prefer sultanas (the name and the fruit) for the following reasons: they are prettier, they plump when you cook them; they seem to have fewer seeds; and well, darn it, they're just plain fancier, dont' you agree?

[yve]

That didnt come out quite right -- the british (and others) refer to ordinary golden raisins as sultanas, not the other way around as i may have led you to believe. in any event, they are also sweeter. kids seem to recoil in horror less often too.