Make Some Irish Soda Bread on St. Patrick's Day

A little over a month ago I did an article that included a recipe on how to make my Irish stew. I had written that the Irish stew could be served with Irish Soda bread, and another CP asked if I could give a recipe for Irish Soda Bread.

Here is a link to that article:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/573775/st_patricks_day_recipes.html?cat=22

The truth is I can not provide a recipe for Irish Soda Bread because I got my recipe off of the internet, and that recipe belongs to another person. I of course can not reprint that because that would be plagiarism, so I tried to re-create the recipe and add my own touches to create a recipe of my own. But as anyone who bakes knows when you are baking it is very important to be exact with your recipes, so unlike cooking where you can add anything you want to change a recipe and it will likely turn out good, that is not necessarily the case with baking. When baking if you are off by just one ingredient it can totally ruin the end product. I could have added nuts or dried cherries or something to the recipe, which would probably be good by the way, but it would no longer be traditional Irish Soda bread.

So while I can not provide you with a recipe for Irish Soda Bread I would like to provide you with some on-line sources where there are some wonderful recipes for Irish Soda Bread.

Before you look at the recipes I would like to give a brief explanation about Irish Soda Bread.

Why is it called soda bread?

Irish soda bread is not called soda bread because there is soda in it. It is called soda bread because it uses baking soda as rising agent instead of yeast. This process of making bread was used over a hundred years ago in rural parts of Ireland. The flour that was needed to make bread with yeast in those areas was difficult to find, so they made the bread using baking soda instead. The key to the Irish soda bread was combining the baking soda with something acidic. The acidic food used in conjunction with the baking soda in the Irish soda bread is buttermilk.

I first learned about Irish soda bread back in High School. I had a boyfriend whose parents had come from Ireland, and I had eaten over at their house a few times. Every time I ate there they were making something that was typically Irish. I also had my first parsnip at their house. Another thing I learned about Irish Soda Bread is that you can not typically buy Irish Soda Bread in the bakeries in Ireland. Irish Soda Bread is a bread that is typically prepared in people's homes.

I also learned from one of his cousin's that was visiting from Ireland that they did not have Irish Spring Soap there, but that is a completely different story, and since that was over 20 years ago, they very well might by now.

Great On Line Sources for Irish Soda Bread Recipes

Now that you have some idea of what Irish Soda Bread is all about here are some excellent places on the where you will find Irish Soda Bread recipes.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004338irish_soda_bread.php

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irresistible-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazingly-Easy-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx

http://www.europeancuisines.com/Peters-Mums-Soda-Bread-Recipe