Cooking With Whole Grains: Sourdough Irish Soda Bread

 Jumping back onto the Sourdough Surprise wagon this month and taking up the challenge of :

 Sourdough Irish Soda Bread

I've never made soda bread before as it seemed just like another kind or shape of biscuits or scones, and I make biscuits all the time. But not sourdough, why? So this was a good opportunity to find out for myself, and see how well it would turn out if I tweak the recipe up a bit to accommodate my grain soaking habit. I think that putting the dough together the night before actually allowed the sourdough starter to lend a bit of lift to the loaf.

 We really enjoyed our breakfast, however late - it takes every bit of 55 minutes the recipe said  for bake time. It was a pleasant surprise, a sourdough surprise!

Recipe:                           

4 cups of flour ( 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)

4 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 tbs cold butter (cut into small pieces)

 Combine dry ingredients and cut in butter with a pastry blender. 

In a separate bowl:

1 1/2 cups of Kefir (or buttermilk)

2 medium eggs

1 tsp orange zest

1 cup of dried cranberries

1 cup of Sourdough starter 

 Mix all ingredients together in a medium glass or plastic bowl.

Cover and let set overnight.

Next morning preheat oven and baking stone to 350*.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and fold/shape into a tall ball.

I tossed a small handfull of cornmeal onto my hot stone then set the dough gently into the center. Score the top of the loaf.

Bake for 55 minutes or until center temperature reaches at least 180*.

Our Sourdough Irish Soda Bread sliced well right out of the oven, not too crumbly with a nice crust. A bit brown, but I think if I had let it alone to bake the full time and not opened the door so much to check it would have spent less time in the oven.

Next time I think I would like to try replacing some of the flour with spelt and oatmeal. 

I also might try this at the market this summer!

It was easy to put together and rose very well.

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