Soda bread adds authenticity to St. Patrick’s Day

If you want to make something authentic to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, one good choice would be soda bread. It’s easy, tasty and so quick you could even make it when you get home from work.

“Soda bread is a classic Irish bread,” said Joe Romano, vice president of food and beverage for PT’s Entertainment Group, whose restaurants include four Sean Patrick’s locations. “It is very, very simple to make. I believe that’s probably why they made it.”

“They make it a lot in Ireland,” echoed Florent Cheveau, executive pastry chef at the MGM Grand. “It was easier for them to do soda bread than regular bread.”

History tells us that soda bread gained popularity in Ireland during the potato famine, when the shortage of potatoes led to a shortage of yeast for baking. Bakers instead starting using baking soda to get their breads to rise.

“There’s only a couple of ingredients in the whole thing, and it’s a heavier bread as well,” Romano said.

Joseph Serrano, executive chef at The Auld Dubliner at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, said the restaurant uses a recipe from the mother of the company founder (recipe follows), who hails from Limerick, Ireland. At the restaurant they bake it in miniloaf pans, and it takes only 20 minutes to bake.

“There’s traditionally a sweet and a savory,” Serrano said. “You’ve probably seen more of the savory. Sometimes they use caraway, or it’s just plain. Our soda bread is miniloaves, and they’re made with currants.”

“Plain is just flour, baking soda and buttermilk,” Romano said, “and then there’s the one where they add some caraway seeds and currants, to where it’s a little sweeter.”

“It’s the French bread of Ireland,” Serrano said. “It goes with anything, but more of the rustic dishes, to soak up some of the juice.”

Serrano’s referring to its popularity, but Romano drew a contrast with the bread of another cuisine.

“If you take the Italians as a bread-making culture, their bread has lots of air pockets,” Romano said. “It’s very light. You could cut a piece of bread and the pockets are so big there can be an inch or two hole here and there. Irish soda bread is heavier and denser. We serve it with some heartier items like potato soup and Guinness-braised stew. It’s mainly to soak stuff up.”

Cheveau cautioned that you don’t want the bread to be overly dense. To avoid that, he suggests using yogurt in the dough.

“You just have to make sure to have yogurt or something with a lot of lactic acid,” he said. “It adds a lot to the texture, makes it softer. You need to bring the acidity of the cream.”

Cheveau added that soda bread is “extremely good” as toast.

“Slice it very thin,” he said. “Toast it and you can put some jam on it.”

“We put it on the menu because it’s a classic,” Romano said. “I think people are happy to see it, because it’s not mainstream. A lot of Irish places you go to don’t typically have it on their menus. I think they’re surprised and happy to see it and receive it.”

THE AULD DUBLINER SODA BREAD

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup sugar

2½ cups buttermilk

3 eggs

8 ounces currants

Place all ingredients except currants in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add currants; turn out onto floured work surface and knead lightly — not until dough is smooth and elastic.

Spray six miniature loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray; divide dough into the pans.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Makes 6 miniature loaves.

— Recipe from Joseph Serrano of The Auld Dubliner

CLASSIC IRISH SODA BREAD

3 cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1 cup cake flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1½ teaspoons cream of tartar

1½ teaspoons table salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened plus 1 tablespoon melted)

1½ cups buttermilk

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto flour-coated work surface; knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)

Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in cast-iron pot and cut a cross shape into the top.

Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.

Makes 1 loaf

— Recipe from Cooks Illustrated

BROWN BUTTER SODA BREAD

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter

3½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup old-fashioned oats

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon ground black pepper plus additional for topping

1¾ cups buttermilk

1 egg white, beaten to blend

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Stir butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until melted and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir flour, oats, sugar, rosemary, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ¾ teaspoon pepper in large bowl to blend. Pour buttermilk and melted browned butter over flour mixture; stir with fork until flour mixture is moistened.

Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead gently until dough comes together, about seven turns. Divide in half. Shape each half into ball; flatten each into 6-inch round. Place rounds on ungreased baking sheet, spacing 5 inches apart. Brush tops with beaten egg white. Sprinkle lightly with ground black pepper. Using small sharp knife, cut 1/2-inch-deep “X” in top of each dough round.

Bake breads until deep golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool breads on rack at least 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: You’ll get the most tender soda bread by kneading the dough gently and briefly, just until it comes together, so the gluten is minimally developed.

Makes 2 loaves

Recipe from Bon Appetit

IRISH SODA BREAD WITH RAISINS

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons solid shortening (recommended: Crisco)

2/3 cup raisins, brown or golden or mixed

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and sugar. Using a pastry blender or fingertips, work the shortening into the flour until the size is that of small peas. Stir in the raisins and caraway and mix to distribute evenly. Gradually stir in the buttermilk, 1/4 cup at a time, using only enough to allow the dough to come together. Knead the dough for 1 to 2 minutes.

Shape the dough into a round loaf and place on a greased baking sheet. Cut an X on the top and over the sides of the loaf. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a rack

Makes 1 loaf.

Recipe from the Food Network

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.