IRISH SODA BREAD
Recently I was contacted by a cousin who is decended from Patrick McIntyre, originally of Lislea, County Sligo. Patrick and his family immigrated to the US and settled in the San Francisco area in the 1860s. Our cousin, Sal Bigone, is still in the Bay area.
Sal tells me that the recipe "comes from my Great Aunt Marie Leonard (eldest granddaughter of Mary Ann McIntyre) [and] it's from around 1920. We still make it every year."
This recipe is so appropos, arriving on St. Patrick's Day Eve, 2012. It is wonderful to have recipes from the "extended" family. Hope more find their way to the McIntyre Recipe page.
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 stick margarine or butter, softened
2 cups flour
3 tblsp raisins boiled/microwaved
1 tblsp caraway seeds
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder) in large bowl, set aside. Cream the sugar with the softened butter then add egg and buttermilk, stir in completely. Pour the liquid into the large bowl with the dry ingredients, folding the mixture until all the liquid is incorporated. Add caraway seeds and raisins in the final folding of the mixture.
Pour batter into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Bread will be golden in color.
This Irish Bread is more cake texture than bread texture.
