Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, folks!  Yes, that's right, it's March 17 once again.  There's green everywhere, shamrocks are scattered about, and my Birthday is fast approaching.  I love March.  We're also celebrating the Patron Saint of Ireland.  (Since I've come to Notre Dame, I've learned a lot about many different Catholic Saints.  In case you, like me, didn't actually know anything about Saint Patrick, click here to read all about him).

Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, our menu for today wasn't Irish at all: french toast for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.  Whoops.  So, as my husband was lamenting the fact that we can't properly celebrate Saint Patrick's day without Irish food, I did some quick Googling and found what is probably the easiest bread recipe I've ever made: TRADITIONAL Irish Soda Bread, courtesy of the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.  No, I am not making this up.  If you take some time to explore their website you'll note that the friendly people there take Traditional Irish Soda Bread very seriously.  There's a whole list of items that, if present, mean your bread isn't traditional, which I found rather informative (about halfway down the page- but don't rush.  They have an interesting tale to tell.).  You'll note if you Google "Irish Soda Bread" yourself, you'll find recipes from reputable sources which are apparently NOT the real deal, if you take THE LIST at its word, which I, for one, opted to do.

SO, here it is.  A true Irish Soda Bread, I learned, has but four ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.  If you're feeling extra adventurous, you may not get whacked for adding a little bit of butter.  The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread lists two varieties: Brown (wheat) and White bread; I opted for brown, but stayed true and omitted the butter.

Ingredients:
3 C Wheat Flour
1 C White Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
14 oz. Buttermilk

Instructions:
It's as easy as can be. If you don't have a dutch oven to use, you'll want to heavily grease and flour a 9" cake pan, and get a matching one ready to use as a "lid" to simulate dutch oven cooking.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and then:

1) Sift together the dry ingredients.

2) Add the buttermilk, and stir together to make a sticky dough.

 3) Turn out onto a heavily floured surface and lightly "knead."  I just turned it over a few times and formed it into a ball.  You don't want to over-work it, or all the gas from the baking soda will come out - which is bad - because that's the only leavening we've got.

4) Flatten the ball a bit into the floured pan, and cut a cross into the top of the bread.

5) Cover the bread with the other pan, and bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove, and wrap in a lightly dampened tea towel to cool.

Right before it went in

Fresh from the oven

6) TA-DA!  TRADITIONAL, Irish Soda Bread.  It's a little plain, but in determining whether we liked it or not Hubby and I managed to eat half the loaf.  So, I think it's a keeper.  Especially with some butter and jam.  Yum.  Happy Saint Patrick's Day, and hooray for being IRISH! (Or at least pretending).