Happy St. Patrick's Day

I have a wee bit o' the Irish in me - Fields from my mother's side and Griffith from my dad's side. 

I use my cast iron chicken fryer with its cast iron lid to bake

 

Irish Soda Bread

It does a smashing job of it!

Before church I put carrots, potatoes, onions, and corned beef in the slow cooker. 

I also made shortbread.  

Everything I read online stated that REAL Irish Soda Bread has just four ingredients. When you start adding sugar, raisins, orange rind, etc. it becomes cake.

I got my recipe from The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.

White Soda Bread
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt
14 ounces of buttermilk

The way I did it:
Put your cast iron skillet or Dutch oven with its lid into the oven. 
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together.
Stir in buttermilk.
Place dough on floured surface and knead just a bit. Not too much!
Shape into a ball.
Cross cut the top.
Remove skillet from oven and pour in just a bit of vegetable oil to lightly grease the skillet.
Put the formed loaf into the skillet.
Put the skillet in the oven and cover with the lid.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Loaf sounds hollow when tapped on bottom.

Remove from oven. You must then immediately slice off a bit and slather with butter. Quality Control is a job...but sigh...somebody's got to do it. ;-)

My shortbread recipe was found in an old cookbook called The Highlanders Cookbook. Once again REAL shortbread has only three ingredients.

Shortbread
1 pound butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar 
4 cups sifted flour

Beat butter and sugar until just combined. Gradually add flour.
Dust counter with a combination of flour and powdered sugar. You can form two circles 3/4" thick or one large rectangle 3/4" thick.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Using your thumb, indent around the edge. Then prick all over with a fork.
Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.
Lower temperature to 300 degrees and bake about 45 minutes. These should not brown much at all.
Remove from oven and immediately slice into desired shapes. Triangle for your circles or squares for shortbread baked in a rectangle.

Family Today!

We had a great time! Friday afternoon Isabel arrived with her chauffeur. Grandpa on a walk with Brook and Isabel...Isabel fell asleep about 2 seconds later.

For supper we had shrimp pasta salad and Irish soda Bread.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Traditional%20Irish%20Soda%20Bread

Before...


...after...

After Isabel's night bedtime Friday, Colt showed up with his entourage. After some visiting, Colt got fussy. Granny (that would be ME) took him out to the screen porch and we sat in one of the rocking patio chairs. He fell asleep in about 2 seconds.

Saturday morning...HELLO COUSIN. Unfortunately, Colt had a bit of a stuffy nose and they weren't permitted to get too close to each other.

We visited and played and I held babies ...although from the photos you would never guess it!

I baked a ham and cooked pinto beans, roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of grated nutmeg and a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper, roasted asparagus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt, mixed green salad with homemade honey mustard salad dressing... http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/honey%20mustard%20salad%20dressing ..., homemade peppercorn salad dressing, and a bottled jar of raspberry vinaigrette. And a loaf of bread machine white bread...with butter!

For dessert...a strawberry pie. http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Strawberry%20Pie

Before... ...after.

I'm going to have to do something different with the strawberry pie. The juice is too juicy. I don't want it set up like pudding...but I don't want it like water. I've always used flour for thickening in my fruit pies. Next time I bake a strawberry pie I am going to use cornstarch. If that doesn't work, I'll try tapioca.

We also had a chocolate pudding cake.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Chocolate%20Pudding%20Cake

I did not get a photo of it. And now...there's only one slice left. Hmmm...See you later!

Irish Soda Bread

How EASY was this? Coming up to St. Patrick's Day, the internet was buzzing with talk about Irish Soda Bread. I did a search and came up with what was touted as a "traditional" Irish Soda Bread recipe.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir in the buttermilk. Blend well. The dough should be sticky. If not, add more buttermilk. Turn out on a lightly floured surface. Knead just a little bit...not much or you will break the gas bubbles forming as a result of the combination of buttermilk and baking soda. Pat into a circle. With a serrated knife, cut a deep cross on top of the loaf. Place in a lightly greased and floured pan. Cover with another pan or lid. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 minutes.I baked my bread in a covered cast iron chicken fryer. And this is what it looked like. And taste? Slathered with butter...it was delicious!! Especially when served with corned beef brisket, carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage.

I don't think I've ever baked a simpler bread.