Traditional Irish Soda Bread

A traditional Irish soda bread only contains four ingredients; flour, salt, buttermilk (or sour milk) and baking soda. If you add fruit, it's a cake. If you add seeds, it's a seeded bread not a soda bread.





4 c (16 oz) all purpose unbleached flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
14 oz buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan.

Sift dry ingredients in large bowl. Add buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead, just until dough comes together. Do not over knead as bread will become tough when baked. Shape dough into a mound, place in prepared cake pan, and score an X in top of loaf.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until golden and top sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and cover lightly with a tea towel sprinkled with water. Do not seal bread in an airtight container as it will lose its crust. Let bread rest 4 to 6 hours before serving. Best eaten the day it's made.

Banana Bread ~ adapted from Parenting Magazine

I don't know how it is that I've never posted this recipe since I've been making it every couple of months for the past 7 years. I suppose it's just something I've always made and never really thought about publicly posting until my sweet friend Gayla asked me if I had a banana bread recipe. So because she asked, here it is for you all to enjoy.

Banana Bread
3 overripe bananas
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1/4 c butter (half one stick)
1/2 c chopped nuts, optional (I never put nuts in mine)

Preheat oven to 325°. Liberally grease 9 x 5 loaf pan and set aside.

Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, egg and nuts and stir. Melt butter in microwave, add to bowl, and stir just until blended.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 60-70 minutes or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm with butter.

Chef's Note: I use my Pampered Chef pastry cutter to mash bananas. Its blades work well at getting the right consistency quickly without overworking my wrist.

Pumpkin Bread ~ adapted from Food Network

3 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1-15 oz can solid pack pumpkin (NOT pie filling)
3 1/2 c flour
2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t nutmeg
1 t allspice
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
2/3 c water

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour 2 ~ 9 x 5 loaf pans and set aside.

In bowl of mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together sugar and oil. Add eggs and pumpkin and mix just until combined. Whisk together dry ingredients in separate bowl. Alternately add dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, starting and ending with dry. Mix just until combined.

Divide batter between prepared loaf pans and bake 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 15 oz can pumpkin
1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Grease loaf pan. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; blend well. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to one hour, until top is firm and toothpick comes out clean. Allow loaf to cool for 15 minutes; remove from pan and dust with powdered sugar (if desired).