Home - is where I want to be / But I guess I'm already there /I come home -
she lifted up her wings /
Guess that this must be the place...
- Talking Heads, "Naive Melody"

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

TWD: Irish Soda Bread

After the Great Rugelach Debacle earlier this month, I have to admit that I was relieved to have a simpler recipe on the schedule. Baking doesn't get any simpler than this: flour, baking soda, salt, buttermilk.


Mix, shape it a bit (but craggy-looking is good!).


Bake it.



Put butter on it (preferably Kerrygold Irish butter, which is amazing stuff). Eat it. That's it.



Which was good, because we were having company for dinner, and for some reason I decided to do it up proper. I made this ham from Food52, roasted butternut squash and tossed it with sauteed kale and toasted pine nuts, whipped up some mashed potatoes, and made a cinnamon-streusel pound cake from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book. On top of that, in the morning I made my usual cinnamon scones. (I had planned to make those on Friday, but inexplicably ran out of cinnamon chips, and my scone cravings do not permit denial.)

Everything was awesome except for the cake, which stuck to the pan (and still tasted awesome). This seems to happen whenever I try to make Bundt cakes with streusel in the middle, even with half a can of spray. I am going to swear off the darn things.

Our dinner guest, who has actual experience with the stuff, said that the bread was "almost" like the one his dad used to make. The "almost" was evidently because it was not dense as a brick, a distinction I am quite happy to live with. I thought it was wonderful, especially for something so dead easy, and will be happy to make it often.

Our hosts this week are My Culinary Mission and Chocolate Moosey. Go check them out!

7 comments:

jane said...

Sounds like a very fun dinner, glad you liked the bread.

Unknown said...

Yuuuuum, great that he thought it was ALMOST as his father's!!

Wendy (pinkstripes) said...

wow! that's a lot of stuff to pull off for a dinner. I'm glad it all worked out and was tasty. :)

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a delicious accompaniment!

Teresa said...

What a great dinner! Sounds like you made the bread perfectly.

Cher Rockwell said...

Yes, I think having a tender "almost" bread is better than a "bricklike" authentic bread. All that food sounds great!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Your entire meal sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed it!