We’re bouncing along from one holiday to the next. It’s time celebrate all things Irish tomorrow! We’ll be baking Irish Soda Bread, of course. Soda bread is a simple everyday baking soda leavened bread and we’ll be baking 3 different versions:
First, we’ll have the most traditional version. It’s known as “Brown Bread” in the republic, and “Wheaten” in the north. It’s the same recipe we make every month on the 3rd Thursday and is made with coarse stone ground whole wheat flour.
For those looking for a lighter taste, we are making a White Soda Bread. It has the same characteristic soda taste, but it is less dense, lighter in color and has milder flavor.
Finally, we will be making a dessert version known as Spotted Dog. It is a sweetened version of the white soda bread with raisins.
For something richer and more celebratory, we will be baking Whiskey Brack again this year. Whiskey Brack is a sweet, very buttery round bread loaded with Irish Whiskey soaked golden raisins and currants. (Unfortunately, my supplier can’t get currants right now, so I am substituting dark midget raisins for them in all the items that normally have currants.) It’s not really the same, but I think of it as the Irish version of the German Stollen we baked for Christmas.
Celtic Knot
What started out as a bit of fun, might turn out to be the most elegant pieces we’ve done in a while. We will be turning some of our baguette dough into Celtic knots. The knots can be used as dinner centerpieces , but then pulled apart and eaten. I think we will need to use 2 Baguettes worth of dough to make each one, so there will be enough in each knot for several people.
For those with a sweet tooth, look for our cutout sugar cookies shaped and decorated as shamrocks.
I think that covers everything we’re doing for St. Patrick’s day this year. We talked about Corned Beef and Cabbage Filled Croissant, but sorry, we weren’t organized enough to pull it together. Maybe next year…
Peter
PS: Did you catch the front page Mining Journal article that Johanna Boyle wrote about my recent talk at NMU? Check it out if you didn’t.