recipe in pictures: soda bread

ah, soda bread. this was such an easy recipe to do. about the only hard thing was waiting for the dried fruit to soak up the liquer and then waiting for it to bake. used this recipe but used whatever liquor i had in the kitchen (it was an herb-based one) and dried mixed fruit that was lying in a bag begging to be used up. verdict? nice and moist and almost reminiscent of bisquick in taste. brought half of the loaf over to my sister's house and her and her boyfriend really liked it. yay for sharing! :D

 
Irish Soda Bread with Whiskey Soaked Raisins and Whiskey Butter Syrup
(from What's Baking in the Barbershop?!)

For bread:
4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for raisins)
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (cut into 1/2" pieces)
1 and 3/4 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 large or extra large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1 cup dried raisins
1/3 to 1/2 cup whiskey

For whiskey butter sauce:
remaining whiskey-raisin liquid after raisins have been soaked in it
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For Bread:
Combine the raisins and whiskey in a small, shallow bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least six hours or overnight (I let mine sit overnight). When ready to make the bread, drain the raisins from the liquid (but SAVE the liquid for the whiskey butter syrup!).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Add the butter, and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour mixture. With a fork, lightly beat together the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest (if using; it's okay to omit the orange zest). With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquids to the flour/butter mixture until well-incorporated. Toss the raisins (that have been removed from the whiskey-raisin liquid) with one tablespoon of flour to coat them. Then add them into the dough. The dough will be rather wet.

Using a well-floured board, knead the dough several times, and form into a circle (you can make one large loaf, if you'd like - or two smaller loaves like I did this time - or you can make scones like I did in this blog post). Place the loaf or loaves on prepared baking sheet, and lightly form an X in the center with a knife. If making one large loaf, bake for 45 to 55 minutes. If making two smaller loaves, check on the loaves after about 30 minutes.

When the loaf is done, a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf will come out clean. Also, if you tap on the side of the bread, it should sound hollow. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the whiskey butter syrup:
Add the remaining whiskey-raisin liquid to a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Once it's simmering, add the two tablespoons of butter. Turn the heat down to medium low and mix until the butter is fully melted. The mixture may begin to foam, and when it does, use a spoon to skim the foam off the top. Drizzle the remaining whiskey butter syrup on a slice of your freshly baked soda bread.