Luck of the Irish Soda Bread

Having married into an Irish family, St. Patrick's Day is kind of a big deal in our house. We all don our green, I put up the shamrock wreath, and my son sets a leprechaun trap. We keep it light and fun (no, I do not dye the toilet water green or leave a mess where the naughty leprechaun made his way through our house) and I see it as a welcome sign of spring. (Maybe not so much this year, as it continues to snow outside of my window.)

Despite our love of the holiday, in nearly 13 years of marriage, I have never baked a loaf of Irish Soda Bread. For many years we've been fortunate enough to enjoy a slice (or two, or three) at St. Patrick's Day celebrations with our good friends, Jess and Dave. Jess puts out a feast of corned beef and cabbage, Guinness stew, mashed potatoes, soda bread, Irish potatoes and more. My contributions have included a delicious cheddar and stout fondue, cupcakes with Irish Cream frosting, and homemade bread. It's been a wonderful opportunity to have the traditional favorites while also trying out some new recipes.

This year, we find ourselves at home for St. Patrick's Day (Monday's are so hard!). While shopping for tonight's corned beef and cabbage dinner, I found myself looking at the loaves of Irish Soda Bread in the grocery store. Mark made a point of asking this year that we have a loaf of the sweet bread at home to go with dinner. So, I reached out to buy a loaf and then stopped. Why not just make it? I love making bread. Colleen could help me, giving us a small mother-daughter project.

My decision was made. There is no time like the present -- I am baking some homemade Irish Soda Bread!

All in all, I think we did great. I found a recipe that seemed pretty straight forward on Allrecipes.com. It was easy to follow and resulted in a delicious loaf of Irish Soda Bread.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!