Herbed Irish Soda Bread

You know when something doesn’t taste bad, there is nothing really wrong with it but you just don’t like it? And if you never have it again as long as you live you would be okay with that? Well that is how I feel about a corned beef and cabbage dinner. Turns out Moe feels exactly the same way. LOL! Neither of us enjoyed dinner last night. Although be both liked Linda’s Herbed Irish Soda Bread. Moe had a couple of slices of the bread again this morning, toasted, with scrambed eggs. Linda’s bread was the best part of the meal. You can find the recipe on Linda’s Blog How to Cook a Wolf. For the herbs I used fresh chives and black pepper. I would definitely make that again.

Herbed White Soda Bread
Recipe by Darina Allen

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons freshly chopped herbs, such as rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, and parsley
12 to 14 ounces buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a
large bowl, make a well in the center and pour all of the buttermilk in at once. Using 1 hand, stir
in a full circle starting in the center of the bowl working towards the outside of the bowl until
all the flour is incorporated. The dough should be soft but not too wet and sticky. When it all
comes together, a matter of seconds, turn it out onto a well-floured board. WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS.
Roll dough around gently with floured hands for a second, just enough to tidy it up, flip the dough
over. Pat the dough into a round about 1 1/2-inches deep. Sprinkle a little flour onto the center of
a baking sheet and place the loaf on top of the flour. Cut a deep cross on it with a sharp knife,
prick the four sections to let the fairies out. Let the cuts go over the sides of the bread to make
sure of this. (This is important…you must let the fairies out!)

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until
just cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread: if it is cooked it will sound hollow.
Cool on a wire rack.But back to the Corned Beef dinner. The meat was very good. I’m looking forward to a corned beef sandwich. And I liked the cabbage. Moe liked the meat and he liked the potatoes and the carrots, but put all together and it really is a very bland boring meal. I don’t make this meal every year and whenever I do, I remember why I don’t. I think next year Steak and Mushroom Pie or maybe an Irish stew will be on the menu.

Edited to Add:  This is the only way I will do a corned beef in the future.

Slow roasted with lots of garlic and black pepper.