Irish Soda Bread

I have no idea why this recipe uses both but­ter and mar­garine. I’ve tried replac­ing the mar­garine with more but­ter, though, and it was­n’t as good as it is with both. Sláinte.

Full dis­clo­sure: I have no idea why this recipe uses both but­ter and mar­garine. I’ve tried replac­ing the mar­garine with more but­ter, though, and it was­n’t as good as it is with both. Sláinte!

Pre­heat oven to 375°. Light­ly grease a large bak­ing sheet.

In a large bowl, mix togeth­er flour, sug­ar, bak­ing soda, bak­ing pow­der, salt and mar­garine. Stir in 1 cup of but­ter­milk and egg. Turn dough out onto a light­ly floured sur­face and knead slight­ly. Form dough into a round and place on pre­pared bak­ing sheet. In a small bowl, com­bine melt­ed but­ter with 14 cup but­ter­milk; brush loaf with this mix­ture. Use a sharp knife to cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf.

Bake in pre­heat­ed oven until a tooth­pick insert­ed into the cen­ter of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 min­utes. Check for done­ness after 30 min­utes. You can brush the loaf with the but­ter mix­ture a cou­ple more times if you like.