IRISH SODA BREAD
RICH, SWEET AMERICAN-STYLE IRISH SODA bread is filled with raisins and caraway seeds. It is delicious, but its uses are limited to breakfast or snacking. Authentic Irish soda bread has a tender, dense crumb and a rough-textured, crunchy crust. It is versatile enough to be served with butter and jam at breakfast, for sandwiches at lunch, or alongside the evening meal. We set out to devise a recipe for this leaner, more savory style of soda bread.
As we looked over a multitude of recipes for soda bread, we found that they fell into two categories. The American versions contained eggs, butter, and sugar in varying amounts, along with caraway seeds, raisins, and a multitude of other flavorings. But most Irish cookbooks combined only four ingredients: flour (white and/or whole wheat), baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.
Flour, being the predominant ingredient, seemed like a good place to start our investigative baking. Because of Ireland's climate, the wheat grown there is a "soft," or low-protein, variety. While not suitable for strong European-style yeast breads, this flour is perfect for chemically leavened breads. This is basically because flour with a lower protein content produces a finer crumb and more tender product, key for breads that don't have the light texture provided when yeast is used as the leavener.
After suffering through several tough, heavy loaves made with unbleached all-purpose flour, we started exploring different proportions of cake flour and all-purpose flour. And, in fact, the bread did become more tender and a little lighter with the addition of some cake flour. As the ratio of cake to all-purpose exceeded 1:1, however, the bread became much more compact and heavy, with an undesirable mouthfeel—1 cup of cake flour to 3 cups of all-purpose proved best.
Because the liquid-to-dry ratio is important in determining texture and moistness, we decided to test buttermilk next. As it turned out, bread made with 13/4 or 12/3 cups of buttermilk produced bread that was doughy, almost gummy. With 11/2 cups, the dough was firmer yet still moist, and the resulting bread was no longer doughy. (If you don't have buttermilk on hand, plain yogurt can be substituted for an equally delicious bread with a slightly rougher crust and lighter texture.)
With the amount of buttermilk decided upon, we were now ready to explore the amount and type of leavening to use. After trying various combinations of baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar, we found that 11/2 teaspoons of soda, combined with an equal amount of cream of tartar, provided just the right amount of lift for a bread that should be light but not airy. Relying on cream of tartar (rather than the acidity in the buttermilk) to react with the baking soda allows the tangy buttermilk flavor to come through.
Because baking soda begins reacting immediately with the cream of tartar and does not provide the big second rise you get with double-acting baking powder, it is important to mix the dough quickly and not too vigorously. If you mix too slowly or too enthusiastically, too much carbon dioxide will be formed and will dissipate during the mixing process; not enough carbon dioxide will then be produced during baking to provide the proper rise. Extended kneading also overdevelops the gluten in the flour, toughening the bread.
Although we were making progress, the flavor of these basic loaves was mediocre at best, lacking depth and dimension, and they were also a bit tough. Traditionally, very small amounts of sugar and/or butter are sometimes added to soda bread, so, starting with sugar, we baked loaves with one and two tablespoons. Two tablespoons of sugar added just the flavor balance that was needed without making the bread sweet. It was only with the introduction of butter, though, that the loaves began to lose their toughness and become outstanding. Still, we really wanted to maintain the integrity of this basic bread and avoid making it too rich. After trying tests with one to four tablespoons of unsalted butter, two tablespoons proved a clear winner. This bread was tender but not crumbly, compact but not heavy. More than two tablespoons of butter began to shift the flavor balance of the bread and add unnecessary richness.
We were getting very close to our goal, but the crust was still too hard, thick, and crumbly. We wanted crunch, but crispness and tenderness as well.
In our research, we came upon various techniques for modifying the crust. Some dealt with the way the bread was baked, while others concentrated on how the bread was treated after baking. Trying to inhibit the formation of a thick crust by covering the bread with a bowl during the first 30 minutes of baking helped some, but the resulting bread took longer to bake and was paler and uneven in color. Using a large flowerpot and clay dish to simulate a cloche (a covered earthenware dish specifically designed for baking bread) again gave us a bread that didn't color well, even with both preheating the tray and buttering the dough.
But the next test, which, not coincidentally, closely simulated historical cooking methods for Irish soda bread, was a breakthrough. Baking the loaf in a well-buttered Dutch oven or cast-iron pot, covered only for the first 30 minutes, produced a well-risen loaf with an even, golden crust that was thin and crisp yet still had a bit of chew.
We realized, however, that not everyone has a cast-iron pot available, so we explored ways of softening the crust after baking. Wrapping the bread in a clean tea towel as soon as it emerged from the oven helped soften the crust, while a slightly damp tea towel softened it even more. The best technique, though, was to brush the warm loaf with some melted butter. This gave it an attractive sheen as well as a delicious, buttery crust with just enough crunch.
Although we liked the crust of the bread baked in the Dutch oven a little better, the ease of baking it on a baking sheet made the loaf brushed with butter a more practical option.
Finally, make sure that you cool the bread for at least 45 minutes before serving. If cut when too hot, the bread will be dense and slightly doughy.