Dear Reader, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m Eastern European, and my wife is Swedish, but on St. Pat’s Day we consider ourselves Irish.

On St. Pat’s Day, we follow tradition and make corned beef and cabbage. I enjoy the combination of corned beef, boiled potatoes, and carrots, so it surprises me that I only make this dinner once a year.

I picked up a corned beef at Costco about a week ago and was shocked by how expensive it was. I guess inflation, the Trump tariff taxes, and now the war in Iraq have impacted the holidays too.

Yesterday, I went to the market to buy the other ingredients for dinner and was mostly successful, except for one item: Irish Soda Bread. I love that massive and somewhat sweet biscuit that masquerades as bread. What to do?

Certainly, I could have gone to another store, but I was feeling lazy. Anyway, making this bread is super simple, so I decided to throw one together. There are many recipes for Irish Soda Bread; the following one is simple and doesn’t involve cutting the fat into the flour. Let’s take a look at the ingredients. This recipe is from Alexandra Stafford.

Ingredients

4 C AP flour (510 grams)

2 t kosher salt (12 grams)

1T sugar (13 grams)

1 t baking soda (5 grams)

1 C dried fruit (optional)

1 egg

1 3/4 C buttermilk

2 T melted butter

Preheat oven to 400° C (205° C)

Mix all of your dry ingredients in a bowl. I’m weighing my ingredients in lieu of using measuring cups, as it is easier and creates less mess.

I added some dried fruit. In my case, cranberries, as we have someone in the house who doesn’t like raisins, which are more traditional. Add whatever you like here. For instance, a small amount of caraway seeds is also a nice addition.

You can buy buttermilk, or just make your own. I’m doing the latter. In a measuring cup, place 2 T of vinegar and then fill the cup with milk to the 1 3/4 C mark. Stir and let this mixture sit for around 10 minutes (or so).

I then added the egg to the liquid and stirred it in.

I did the same with the melted butter.

I combined the wet and dry ingredients, making sure to incorporate all of the flour. The dough will be sticky. Don’t overmix.

I put a little flour on a surface (and also on my hands) and turned out the dough. I kneaded it a couple of times to pull it together, but not like you would work bread dough. I then form it into a disk.

Most recipes use a cast-iron skillet, but I’m using a 9″ pie pan. Make sure you grease the pan. I just used some cooking spray. I cut a fairly deep X in the bread. This is important, or the center won’t bake properly.

Bake at 400° F (205°C) for 35-40 minutes. I only baked mine for 30 minutes, and it was done, so make sure to check it. I let it cool on a rack for about 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan and allowing it to cool completely on the rack. I then wrapped it and froze it for the big day.

Making the soda bread was extremely simple and kept me from having to go to another store. If you make a thicker bread, you may want to make the center a bit more depressed in addition to making an X in the loaf. Otherwise, the center may not be completely cooked.

St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, and he is also the patron saint of engineers (who knew?). However, most of us celebrate his day with food and fun. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Cheers

Mike