Irish Soda Bread--A Homespun Slice of Life

I often find that preparing recipes my mother and grandmother made brings back fond memories of them. Pulling out a faded, dog-eared recipe for soda bread from my mother’s old collection last week certainly reminded me of her.

I remember watching her make simple, savory quick breads like cornbread, biscuits, bran muffins and popovers often—all from scratch, of course. The activity seemed so comfortable and effortless that it never occurred to me to think of baking as difficult or out of the ordinary. Once you could read and measure, it was just something pleasant and useful you learned to do. And by the time I was eight or maybe nine, I did—well, except for the popovers, which I never mastered and avoid to this day!

Since our family wasn’t Irish, soda bread didn’t appear regularly at our table. But my mother liked to mark every holiday with the appropriate dish—plum pudding for Christmas, pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday, etc. So, Irish soda bread usually turned up on the menu on St. Patrick’s Day. (She was also fairly obliging when we requested Lime Surprise—a “dreamy” Jello-whipped cream concoction—or green-frosted cupcakes for dessert.)

I’ve since learned that purists think real Irish soda bread shouldn’t have raisins—that this turns it into an altogether different loaf, called Spotted Dog. In fact, they say that incorporating anything other than flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk is just wrong. Nevertheless, my mother’s version had raisins, so it seems absolutely right to me that way.

But I have made some changes in her basic recipe: Although I don’t think a sack of whole wheat flour ever darkened my mother’s door much less her pantry, I’ve come to prefer a part whole wheat soda bread. (It adds a nice, nutty flavor.) Yogurt wasn’t in our home either, so would never have gone into her soda bread, but I add it because I discovered it helps keep the loaf from drying out.

I was already feeling nostalgic, but the craggy, rustic look of this loaf made me a little wistful for the past. So, I rummaged through a drawer crammed with old linens I’d saved from my mother’s kitchen and found a homespun-looking cloth napkin to use as a prop for my photo. The cutting board and plate in the picture are of the same vintage, though I salvaged them from my octogenarian mother-in-law’s kitchen when she gave up her house last year. These, along with an old bread knife I found in an antique shop, helped me recapture a familiar slice of my life from long ago. I thought I’d share it with you.

Improved Irish Soda Bread with Raisins (aka Spotted Dog)


I call this loaf improved because, thanks to the addition of yogurt, honey, and a little oil, it has a moister, more tender crumb than traditional soda bread. Due to the yogurt it also keeps better and has more protein than classic versions prepared with just buttermilk.

I use some whole wheat flour not only because it’s more nutritious, but I think its wheaty flavor is extremely appealing. But, if preferred, you can use all white flour with excellent results.

The bread is at its best served still warm from the oven with, as the Irish say, "lashings” of butter. But it’s quite good wrapped in foil and reheated on the second or even third day. And, if sliced rather than cut into wedges as shown in the picture, it’s also good for toast.

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour, plus more if needed
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Generous 1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark, seedless raisins, rinsed under hot water, drained well, and patted dry
1 6-ounce carton (or 3/4 cup) nonfat or low-fat plain (unsweetened) yogurt
1/4 cup clover honey or other mild honey
3 tablespoons corn oil, canola oil, or other flavorless low-saturated-fat vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, plus extra if needed

Place a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch diameter cake pan, pie plate or similar flat, round baking dish.

In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the white and whole wheat flours, baking soda, and salt. In medium bowl using a fork, beat together the raisins, yogurt, honey, and oil until very well blended. Stir in the buttermilk. Gently stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until mostly incorporated. With your hands and working in the bowl, knead the mixture until it just comes together, then shape it into a round, shaggy ball; add a little buttermilk if it is too crumbly and dry to come together, or a little more flour if it seems too soft and wet.

Transfer the ball to the cake pan. With oiled hands, smooth and shape the dough into a 6-inch diameter high-domed loaf. With a well-greased sharp knife, cut a 1/2-inch deep X that extends across the loaf top.

Bake (middle rack) for 55 to 65 minutes or until well browned on top and a toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean; cover the top with foil after 40 to 50 minutes if it starts to over-brown. Let stand on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then serve. If desired, reheat the loaf wrapped in foil for about 15 minutes in a preheated 350-degree F oven.

Makes one medium loaf, 12 to 15 thick slices or wedges.