I’m reposting this one as it’s a great recipe for St. Patricks Day…

Saint (St.) Patrick’s Day was never a big holiday in my Italian household but it was always a great day for me because of my mom.  My mom had always made St. Patrick’s Day special for me because I was her only child without an Italian name.  To make me feel special, my mom would always buy me a little something or do something special on St. Patrick’s day to make up for it so while it was not about the food and what was being made it was about how she made me feel important.

I don’t tend to do a lot of Irish cooking, although I can cook just about anything, I just don’t tend to gravitate to Irish food, even for the holiday.  I decided that I would revisit an old recipe I had for Irish soda bread and so I found this on from my collection.

I’m unsure of more traditional recipes or if this is the traditional recipe but I will tell you that I love this recipe, maybe it’s the orange zest which brings in the Italian feeling or the currants that make it a little sweet but not overly sweet, or maybe it’s just such a simple recipe that I love that I can whip it up and serve it to impress my friends…nonetheless, it’s a great recipe to try at least once in your life as it’s a no fail recipe for bread that doesn’t use yeast.

I didn’t have buttermilk at home so I made my own, you have to use 1% or higher for your milk and for every cup you add 1 tablespoon lemon or distilled vinegar, I did almost 2 tablespoons, here is my before

then after 5 minutes with the vinegar it looks like this, kind of gross but it works

you add your flour, sugar and baking soda in a bowl

cut up your butter into cubes

add it to your flour

mix until you have small bits and pieces of the buter

to your milk add the orange zest and lightly beaten egg

add your milk to your flour and mix well

add your currants and mix well

dump your mixture onto a floured counter, here is the before

knead for about 3 minutes…here is your after

place on a prepared baking sheet with parchment paper and cut a “cross” with a knife

baked for 45-55 minutes or until done

Let it cool slightly before cutting

I couldn’t wait to cut into this bread and I’m glad I couldn’t it was amazing!  I’d say give it a try as it’s not a difficult recipe and it’s always impressive to make your own bread.  I would not substitute the currants or orange zest.

Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoy this recipe.  I do love comments so please feel free to leave me your comment or suggestion.  If you would like to be kept up to date with all my new recipes, I only post twice a week, please subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page “Subscribe Via Email”. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too.  

Thank you again ~ Patty Limatola-Tanenbaum

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