IRISH SODA BREAD 

3 1/3   cups flour

1 heaping tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup currants

1 ½ / 2 cups buttermilk

Butter a 7-inch springform pan (about 2 ½-inch high)

Preheat oven to 425º F. 

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Cut up the butter and mix it in with your fingers.  Mixture should be as fine as bread crumbs.  Add currants, and blend them in.  Make well in center, then pour in buttermilk (start with 1 ½ cups, but you’ll need more).  Use a plastic bowl scraper to draw all dry ingredients into liquid, and mix till you have a loose dough that resembles thick oatmeal.  Turn dough into prepared pan, leaving surface rough.  Sprinkle with a little flour.

Bake 10 minutes.  Then lower temperature to 400º F and bake 40 minutes more.

Remove from oven, leave it in pan, and cover with a dish towel.  When cool, remove from pan.

(Adapted from recipe in In an Irish Country Kitchen by Clare Connery)