Traditional Irish Soda Bread...The Un-Bread

[Rishi]

The Un-Bread  www.sodabread.us

If your "soda bread" has raisins, it's not "soda bread!  It's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"!  If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called
"cake", not "bread."  All are tasty, but not traditional Irish
Soda Bread!

(moving to sodabread.info) Read on to find out about soda bread history and background info on Traditional Irish Soda bread.  Click on any of the links on the left to explore and learn more!

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

If one searches the internet using the term "Traditional Irish Soda Bread" about 7700 sites are listed. 98% of them aren't even close to being
traditional.

Would "French Bread" (15th century) still be "French Bread" if
whiskey, raisins, or other random ingredients were added to the mix?  
Would Jewish Matzo (unleavened bread) used to remember the passage
of the Israelites out of Egypt still be Matzo if we add raisins,
butter, sugar, eggs, and even orange zest?   So why is
traditional "Irish Soda Bread" (19th century) turned into a dessert
and labeled "Traditional Irish Soda Bread?"  OK, maybe you
don't like the analogy, but you get the point!

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Look up a few definitions in the Dictionary and you find:

"Tradition"

1: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by
example from one generation to another.
 2: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and
institutions

There are two kinds of traditions:  1) The cultural one that can be traced back through an ethnic group's history and 2) family traditions that can be traced back to an
individual family member.

Irish Soda Bread is an example of the first.  Grandma (insert name here)'s Irish bread is the other.  The cultural one came first and was adapted and modified by the second into a
family tradition.  Both traditions are sacred.

"Bread"

a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture of whose basic constituent is flour or meal.

"Cake"

a sweet baked food made from a dough or thick batter usually containing flour and sugar and often shortening, eggs, and a raising agent (as baking powder)

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It shocks some people to learn that St. Patrick wasn't holding a slice
of Irish Soda Bread in one hand while he drove the snakes out of
Ireland with the other.  Soda bread came long after St. Patrick
in the mid 1840's when bicarbonate of soda (Bread Soda) as a
leavening agent was used in Ireland to work with the "soft" wheat
grown there.

The other shock to Irish-Americans is that their Irish ancestors who left Ireland during the Famine years did not bring a recipe for Irish Soda Bread with them.  Irish soda bread became
popular in Ireland after the Famine years.  If your Irish
ancestors had the good sense to leave Ireland for America during the
Famine years, they never learned about making soda bread in Ireland.

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The basic soda bread is made with flour, baking soda, salt, and soured milk (or buttermilk).  That's it!

One on-line recipe claiming to be "traditional" included "orange zest" as an ingredient.  As if our poverty-stricken ancestors even knew what orange zest was. 
Even in the mid-1950's an orange was a special treat during
Christmas, not a common item in the kitchen like it is today. 
Another recipe has chocolate in it and another calls for sugar glaze
over the "bread."  Tasty, Yes!  Traditional Irish Soda
Bread, No!

You'll find site recipes for "traditional Irish Soda Bread" that call for yeast to be used.  The whole reason bread
soda was used in the first place was to replace  yeast as the
rising agent.

There are even commercial sites selling "Irish Soda Bread" with YEAST as an ingredient.  And right before St. Patrick's Day your local supermarket chain will have "Irish Soda
Bread" for sale with yeast, sugar, and who knows what on the listed
ingredients.  But stores mostly will add raisins and dried
fruit to their "soda bread."  Most look like a fruitcake recipe
repackaged from the Christmas holidays.  The same recipe
usually shows up as "Easter Bread" a few weeks later.  For the
most part they taste great but are mislabeled as "Irish Soda
Bread."

While we are certainly at liberty to modify recipes to our heart's
content, it is incorrect to claim that these modern sugary recipes
are the same as used by our great-great grandmothers in Ireland, a
poor country at the time, to feed their families in the latter part
of the 19th century and early 20th century.  It was often the
only bread available to most Irish families.  Can you imaging
the woman in this photo even knowing what a "zester" is?

In today's world, soda bread has become a dessert cake and the three-leaf shamrock has turned into a four-leaf clover.

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This site is here to encourage modern bakers to get in touch with their Irish roots and used the traditional ingredients/recipes when making "traditional Irish soda
bread."  Sure, make the fancy desserts for St. Patrick's Day,
but save a spot on the table for Irish soda bread to remember how
far the Irish have come from the days when it was the only thing on
the table to today when or tables are filled with good things to eat
and thought of the Famine years are long forgotten.

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A few absolutes:  Traditional Irish Soda Bread does not contain

• "zest", orange or any other kind

• Irish Whiskey.  (talk about stereotyping!!!)

• Honey (substitute for sugar)

• Sugar (see definition of "cake")

• eggs (see definition of "cake")

• Garlic  (not common in English/Irish dishes)

• Shortening (hydrogenated vegetable oil - Crisco introduced to the US in 1911.  Not in the 19th century)

• Heavy Cream (British term for whipping cream bu a little thicker.  Not much chance irish peasants would be using this.)

• Sour Cream (traditional in Eastern European dishes.  Became popular in the US and European kitchens during the past 50 years, not 150 years ago. see
  
  http://www.ochef.com/516.htm

• Yogurt (prior to 1900 a staple in Central Europe and Asia.  Introduced to the US after WWII by Isaac Carasso who started Dannon in NY City.  Not a 19th century Irish
  baking item.)

• Chocolate

• Chiles/Jalapenos (Right! Ireland is well known for using these in its traditional food!! por favor!

• Fruit (Only in Christmas/Easter cakes and other special occasions._

and just about anything else one can think of.  all of the above ingredients can be found in "Irish soda bread" recipes somewhere on the web.  Interesting, but definitely not
Traditional Irish Soda Bread.

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Soda bread was baked daily from simple ingredients.  The Irish would not have added whiskey to their daily bread any more than a Frenchman would have added it to his baguette or a Jew to
Matzo.

In America and other parts of the world we tend to forget that this is a basic "quick bread" served with meals and not a "dessert dish."

But my sainted Irish (insert relative here) used eggs, sugar and moose fat!  

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[Sedona7]

Have not been on this group in a while. Thanks for the interesting info on my heritage ; )

[james wilkinson]

alright, you've told us what it is and is'nt, now tell us the recipe for us to try it.

[Susan]

Heres my recipe,im only half Irish.4 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder,1/4 tsp baking soda,2 tablespoons shortening,1 tablespoon butter,1/2 tablespoon salt,about 2 cups of buttermilk(or sour milk),2 eggs.mix dry ingredients add shortening and cut in like biscuits.Add eggsand buttermilk,mix.do not overbeat.I form a ball and place in a greased pie pan.bake at 375 % for about an hour.I have made this recipe for years.It might not be authentic but sometimes i add raisins.