Tricia's Week 52 Recipe: Soda Bread

Wow.  A New Years Resolution I didn't break!  (To qualify, I made a second resolution in 2010 to make and eat more ice cream and failed miserably.)  I have made it, 52 recipes of things I have not made before.  Very proud of myself.  I realize, looking back, that there are things I lean on as my stand-bys, but some of these new recipes will start to fill in as standbys, I think.  It is fitting that my final recipe for this blog is something Irish, soda bread.  It is also fitting it is posted after the first of the year.  However, it is Still week 52... :P  Click here for source.


Sage and Pepper Soda Bread Total time: 45 minutes, plus cooling


Ingredients

• 2cups all-purpose flour
• 2teaspoons baking powder
• 2teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 2tablespoons unsalted butter, in small bits
• 1teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1cup buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl or processor. Blend in butter by machine or with fingertips for a mealy texture.  Mix in the sage and pepper, then lightly stir in the buttermilk until the mixture forms a soft dough, which can be gathered together. Knead it briefly, then shape it into a round about two inches high.  Put loaf on a baking sheet. Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut a deep cross on top of the loaf, making the cuts nearly all the way across.  Put it in the oven and bake until nicely browned, about 35 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting.
Yield: 1 loaf.

I will make it again, but it suprised me.  It's moister than I imagined for soda bread, but the flavor is a bit weird.  I don't know what I did.  I guess I'll just have to keep experimenting.  It's not so weird that I won't share it w/ people, though, and I'm bringing it to share to work tomorrow.  I guess I've always made 'soda' bread w/ beer or soda rather than baking soda and buttermilk :P