I have done some Irish & semi-authentic Irish fare (click HERE for recipes), and I had the itch to fix up a meal again. Yes, in July.
Now then, the last couple of St. Paddy's Day meals haven't included Irish Soda Bread for one reason or another. But I now have a solution! Make it in the lazy cooker!!
You cannot imagine how stoked I was to find some recipes for the lazy cooker. But most of them had the recipe ingredients WRONG! Irish Soda Bread is a mere 4 ingredients. It is said that if you add eggs, it's cake; if you add sugar, it's cake; if you add butter, it's probably cake. So I took the simplest & traditional recipe and did this:
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IRISH SODA BREAD
Traditional Recipe - Lazy Cooker
Ingredients:
* 4 C all purpose flour, plus some extra
* 2 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp salt (table, kosher, sea - I used sea salt)
* 2 C buttermilk (or 2 C milk with 2 T vinegar - let set for 5-15 minutes before using)
Directions:
- In a large bowl, mix the 4 C flour, baking soda & salt together
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the buttermilk
- Stir it all together until it is a sticky ball of dough
- Take the dough & place it on a flat & lightly floured surface (this is the extra flour)
- Lightly knead the dough into a ball & slightly flatten
- Lightly spray the insert of your lazy cooker with cooking spray
+ NOTE: you can also lightly spray or grease a pan if it fits into your lazy cooker.
Check out the fit first, but the pan isn't needed.
Also, I used an older, round lazy cooker. Most are oval now & can be used.
- Place the dough ball into the lazy cooker
- Take a knife & make 2 long cuts, forming a cross on top of the dough ball, extending over the edges; make the cuts about a half to 1 inch deep
- Place the lid on the lazy cooker, make sure it's plugged in & set on low for 1 hour
- After 1 hour on low, turn the lazy cooker setting to high for another hour to hour & a half
(Or you can set on low for 4 hours)
(Or you can set on low for 4 hours)
- Turn off the lazy cooker, and carefully remove the bread from the lazy cooker insert onto a cooling rack or plate & allow to cool for a short time (you want to serve the bread warm)
- Serve
* Can easily serve 8-10
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A couple of other recipes I had come across called for 1 & 3 quarters cups buttermilk. It wasn't enough & wish I had bumped it up to the 2 cups, so I put it in this recipe.
You know what? This was a HUGE hit! My kiddos couldn't get enough of it, my hubby loved it, my parents couldn't get over it, and I was so stoked with how it turned out!! The texture was divine & was perfect for the meal.
SO simple, people! Nothing to complicate anything. Easy recipe, and let the lazy cooker do the rest. You will NOT be disappointed!
And I can now be sure to work it into my future St. Patrick's Day feasts. I'm delighted!
ENJOY!
