St. Patrick's Day: What is Irish Soda Bread?
Irish Soda Bread is another tradition from the Emerald Isle that you can enjoy on St. Patrick's Day. Eddie Travers is the co-owner of New York City’s Porterhouse Brew Co. in New York City and describes to Fox News how to make his version of the iconic bread.
Corned beef and cabbage may be the treats most widely enjoyed by Americans on St. Patrick’s Day, but did you know that Irish soda bread is another staple of tradition from the Emerald Isle?
“Even though there are the basic ingredients that go into every soda bread [flour, baking soda, salt, buttermilk], every mother in Ireland has her own version of it, and every household has their own spin on it,” says Eddie Travers.
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Travers is the co-owner of New York City’s Porterhouse Brew Co. and hails from Ardcath, Ireland. He brought Fox News into his bar’s lively kitchen to learn how to make his version of the iconic bread, as well as two additional recipes for Irish braid bread and Pistachio Irish brown bread.
Check out the video above for Travers' full interview and more on the best ways to enjoy Irish soda bread, and keep reading for those recipes.
Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Irish Soda Bread
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 25-35 mins
Ingredients:
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually stir in the buttermilk until the dough comes together in a slightly sticky ball. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead gently a few times.
- Form the dough into a ball and then press into the prepared pan so that the dough resembles a large disk. The dough should reach the edges of the pan, but may spring back slightly. Cut an ‘X’ into the dough with a sharp knife, about 1/4 of an inch deep. Cover the pan with another round cake pan, turned upside-down.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, covered, then remove the top pan and bake uncovered for about 10 minutes more or until the crust is dark golden brown.
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Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Irish Braid Bread
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet Pillsbury dough
- ½ pound sliced corned beef
- ½ cup blanched spinach
- 1 Yukon potato
- 4 slices mozzarella
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 1 egg
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough sheets onto prepared baking sheet to make a large rectangle, pinching seam together with fingers. Using knife, cut 1-inch wide stripes on long sides of dough, with the same number of stripes on each side.
- In the center of the dough, start layering the ingredients starting with corned beef, potatoes, spinach and cheese. Start folding the dough stripes over the filling by crossing them over each other to make a braid effect.
- Scrable the egg, and brush braid with egg wash. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and place in oven for 20 minutes, or until golden on the outside.
Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Irish Brown Bread
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 spoon baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 4 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup roasted pistachio
- ½ spoon sea salt
- 2 spoons granulated sugar
- Smoked salmon (for topping)
- Caper aioli (for topping; recipe below)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together (baking soda, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sea salt, granulated salt). Add butter and continue mixing until it becomes crumbled. Add eggs, pistachios and buttermilk and start kneading until ingredients start to stick together.
- Place dough on a lightly floured service and knead lightly until formed and round. Place on baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean and does not stick. You may brush the loaf with buttermilk to get a nice color while it bakes.
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Caper Aioli
Ingredients:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp capers, roughly chopped
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Emily DeCiccio is a video producer and reporter for Fox News Digital Originals. Tweet her @EmilyDeCiccio
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