Florida Agenda

By JEAN DOHERTY

Irish woman shoutin’…If your “soda bread” has raisins, it’s not “soda bread! It’s called “Railway Cake”! (a currant at every station!)

If it contains eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it’s called “cake”, not “bread.” All are tasty, but not traditional Irish Soda Bread! In Ireland, the flour is made from soft wheat; so when making it here in the states, soda bread is best made with a cake or pastry flour (which are made from soft wheat).

It lowers the level of gluten. I recommend the minimum amount of mixing of the ingredients before baking; the dough should not be kneaded.

4 cups of cake or pastry flour

1 Teaspoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt 14 oz of buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees and lightly flour a round cake pan. In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. It’s sloppy, that’s normal. Flop it into a round shaped cake pan and cut a cross on the top of the dough. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The bottom of the bread should sound hollow when tapped so you’ll know it’s done. Cover the bread with a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

I’m not goin’ to say “you are a chef” cause you don’t do it your way for this one.