Happy St. Patrick’s Day. If you don’t feel like competing with the hordes for a pint of green beer at a crowded bar (I look back at teenaged and early twenties me with genuine wonderment) then this easy soda bread recipe will make you feel like you properly marked the day.
It comes together quickly, requires no kneading and by baking it in a cast iron pan you ensure a satisfyingly crunchy crust.
Soda Bread
Makes one round, serves 2-4.
For a savory version, omit the sugar and add three chopped green onions and a cup of coarsely grated cheddar to the dry ingredients and butter mixture before adding the buttermilk.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups buttermilk (no substitutions)
1 egg (optional, for added richness. So yeah, do it.)
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned into a measuring cup to ensure an accurate amount. Dragging the cup through the flour and then levelling it off packs too much flour into each cup.)
3 T granulated sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t kosher salt (Diamond Crystal if possible. It really is the best.)
5 T cold, cubed unsalted butter.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Whisk together the cold buttermilk and the egg.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
Add the cold cubes of butter to the flour mixture and incorporate it with a pastry cutter until it all resembles cornmeal (as if you were making a pie crust.)
Pour in the buttermilk/egg mix and stir until combined. When you have a unified (albeit crumbly) mass, turn it onto a floured board and barely knead for only half a minute until the flour is incorporated.
Shape into a round and place in your cast iron pan. Cut a cross into it almost all the way through, as this will help it bake evenly, place on the middle rack and bake for about 40 minutes. (Start checking at the 30 minute mark. You might want to drape it with foil if it browns too quickly.)
Remove when done and cool it on a wire rack and then happily consume it all in one sitting.