Irish Soda Bread

I know, I know: I'm almost a week behind the whole St. Patrick's Day bandwagon.

But it's never too late for a new bread recipe, right? And a bread recipe that requires no rising? I'm all over it.

Enter Irish Soda Bread. I was put to task to bake this sweet, raisin-studded bread for our local food co-op's Spring Open House. I'm not sure what possessed me to volunteer for a baked good that I'd never made before, but I'm so very glad I did.

Here's the run-down on this luck o' the Irish loaf:

• It's super-easy: Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter, mix-in wet ingredients. Voila!
• It's dense n' moist--easy to cut, perfect texture
• It's just sweet enough. It'll curb your crave for sugar, without doing the damage of a Cookie Dough Blizzard (although, I'm not necessarily opposed to Blizzard-related body damage)
• The raisins are a tasty addition. How do I know? Adam refuses to eat baked goods with raisins baked in (weirdo, right?)...but he loved every last crumb of this lucky loaf :)
  
• It tastes DELICIOUS! This is really the only bullet point you need.

So friends, while green beer may be last week's news, and meaty Irish stew is so out-of-style, the goodness of Irish Soda Bread comes all year long.

Irish Soda Bread

(adapted from this original recipe found at Foodnetwork.com)

My favorite way to eat this bread is spread with a thin layer of butter on each slice. The original recipe also calls for Caraway seeds--I opted out because I'm not a huge Caraway fan. But if you're a Caraway-lovin' gal (or guy), go for it!

Ingredients:

• 2 - 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 - 1/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg white

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is course and crumbly. Stir in raisins. Beat in milk and egg white until thoroughly combined. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

3) It's really that easy!