Irish Soda Bread, Traditional

Traditional Irish Soda Bread has only flour, soda, salt, and sour milk. It was a simple everyday bread baked in Irish homes. See my American Irish Soda Bread recipe for the popular sweet version...called Spotted Dog bread in Ireland. The sweetened version went from America to Ireland with Irish-American emmigrants returning to their home country after the potato famine of the mid 19th century drove them to our shores. I use white flour, but a soft wheat flour is the most traditional.

Irish Soda Bread
4 cups of all purpose flour.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a round cake pan or grease a cast iron skillet. In a large bowl, sift and combine all the dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead. Pat dough into a round flat shape in the pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough. Cover the pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped when it is done. Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.