Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

During the 1990’s when I worked on West 57th Street, my parents took me to dinner at this place called Kennedys. The front of it looked like any other Irish Bar in NY, but at the back was a dining room out of a fine manor house from County Clare with a grand wood burning fireplace. We ate many fabulous meals there and sadly it is no more.

One of the things I loved the most was their Golden Raisin Irish Soda Bread. I have made literally thousands of loaves of Irish Soda Bread over the years. One St. Patrick’s day I made 43 loaves. The recipe I used was a variation of my mom’s that I had perfected over the years, but for some reason I always used dark raisins.

So for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day I decided to finally use golden raisins. I also wanted to make it healthier. I decided to use King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour* to increase the fiber. In comparison, I normally use Heckers All Purpose Flour and according to the nutrition facts 1/4 cup has 3% of the daily value of dietary fiber. The same amount of the King Arthur Flour has 16% of dietary fiber plus another gram of protein. (Just a little tid bit of history for you, King Arthur Flour has been around since 1790 and Heckers since 1843.)

I have always used Light Brown Sugar in the recipe and was reluctant to take any out, but I figured that since I find golden raisins to be sweeter than dark it would be OK to reduce the sugar.

Now the best part, Irish Soda Bread is best fresh out of the oven with soft butter spread over it. I prefer unsalted butter, but salted is equally divine.

In preparing for St. Patrick’s Day and making our Irish Soda Bread together Alexander and I took a wonderful book out from the library titled Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by Heather Miller.

It is filled with an extensive history of the holiday which has been celebrated since St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 ad.

Erin go bragh! Victoria & Alexander ??   

 

Golden Raisin Irish Soda Bread

Yield 2 Loaves

1 1/2 Cups Golden Raisins (7 oz)

3 Cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour (1# 4 oz)

1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar (3 oz)

2 Tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Caraway Seeds

6 Tablespoons Butter, cold cut into 1/4″ cubes

2 Extra Large Eggs

1 1/4 Cups Buttermilk

1. Rehydrate the raisins by covering them with boiling water, let them soak for 2 minutes, drain and paper towel dry the raisins to remove any excess water.

2. Cut butter into 1/4″ cubes

and store in refrigerator (or freezer if your kitchen is hot) until needed.

3.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Put flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and caraway seeds in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer

and combine with paddle attachment.

4. Add cold butter

 

and cut into dry ingredients with paddle until mixture resembles sand with no large lumps of butter. This may take up to 5 minutes of mixing depending on how cold the butter is.

5. Add eggs and mix until combined.

6. Add buttermilk and mix in.

7. Finally add the raisins

and mix until dough forms.

8. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Then put on a lightly floured surface, I used all purpose flour to knead with,

and divide into two.

Knead the dough gently

and begin to form a ball.

Keep kneading into a ball

until all the flour is mixed in and the dough is sticky again.

Cut an X on the top of the loaf.

Shape second loaf and put both on a parchment paper lined half sheet baking pan.

9. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes then turn oven down to 300 degrees. Continue to bake for another 25 – 30 minutes. To tell when loaves are done pick a loaf up with a kitchen towel, turn over and tap. If it sounds hollow and feels lighter than when you put it into the oven, it is done. Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife with a sawing motion to slice when it is still warm, otherwise the crust will crumble.

This will keep for several days wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at room temperature. This also freezes well for 2 – 3 months tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

* King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour is available in their catalogue and on their website King Arthur Flour.  I was lucky and also found it at Walmart.