Classic Irish Soda Bread

Name: Classic Irish Soda Bread
Yield: Yields 1 loaf
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: 3 cups, bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface; 1 cup, cake flour; 2 tablespoons, granulated sugar; 1 1/2 teaspoons, baking soda; 1 1/2 teaspoons, cream of tartar; 1 1/2 teaspoons, table salt; 3 tablespoons, unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened + 1 tablespoon melted); 1 1/2 cups, buttermilk

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated March/April 1997

Desserts or Baked Goods

Irish

Breads

For bread with a moist, flavorful crumb and a crisp, tender crust, use both cake flour and all-purpose flour and go light on the buttermilk.

SERVESYields 1 loaf

TIME1¼ hours, plus 30 minutes cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

When developing our Irish soda bread recipe, our first tests focused on flour. A loaf made with all-purpose flour produced a doughy, heavy bread with a thick crust. To soften the crumb, we added some cake flour to the mix, and this made a d...

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