No, not my aunt (Buzz). Nor my friend Roger’s aunt (Buzzy – short for Guglielma). Not Bob’s aunt, and not really Barb’s aunt either – more her brother’s mother-in-law, actually – but whomever’s aunt she may or may not be – she has one darned fine soda bread recipe, and, as long as we all PROMISE not to let her know that between us, Bob and I have made a few teeny, tiny, ermmm, adjustments (YEAH! I like that term) to her recipe, we can share and enjoy in the bready goodness that is this finest of soda breads I’ve tried.
INGREDIENTS
•3 cups flour
•2/3 cup sugar
•1 tsp baking powder
•1 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp salt
•1-1/2 cups raisins – I used 1 cup of raisins and 1/2 cup dried cherries
•2 tsp butter, melted
•2 eggs, beaten
•1-3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350º.
Sift together all dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir in raisins and/or whatever other additions you may choose.
Combine eggs, butter and buttermilk, add to bowl and stir until just mixed.
Pour mixture into a greased 5 x 9 loaf pan and bake at 350º degrees for approximately one hour until lightly browned and toothpick comes out clean – our oven is famous for running hot, so I reduced the temperature to 325º and this loaf was still well and truly done at 50 minutes, so be flexible with the timing.
Tip out of loaf pan after bread is completely cooled.
VARIATIONS:
Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to dry ingredients before sifting
Replace 1/2 cup of the raisins with 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, macadamias, etc.) – OR, like me, dried cherries.
Bob and I were chatting about options and he thinks dried blueberries could be a good thing, to which I would add a nice sprinkling of fresh lemon zest.
Just don’t tell Aunt Beezy.