Irish soda bread too dry. Best way to make it moister?

Cafe Society
1

My sister made a big Irish meal on St. Patrick’s Day, but the soda bread was a bit dry. To make it more moist, should I:

  1. increase the buttermilk a little–from say 1 1/3 cups to maybe 1 1/2 cups?
  2. increase the eggs–from 2 to 2 1/2 eggs?
  3. decrease the temperature (350) or baking time (1 hour)?
2
  1. Soak it in rum? It won’t stay “dry” for long! :smiley:
3

To be honest I learned to make it with 2 less eggs than you presently use.

4

Did you read the OP? 4) Soak it in Irish whisky!

5

Different recipe. This one calls for buttermilk, eggs, baking powder and soda, raisins, caraway seeds, and a few more ingredients.

6

That’s what the butter is for!

I don’t think I’ve ever had a soda bread (that was really soda bread not just that stuff in the store that’s raisin bread in a green wrapper) that wasn’t dry. It’s sort of part of the charm for me.

7

Yeah, Irish Soda Bread is dry. This kinda reminds me of the thread, last week, about how to add “oomph” to corned beef.

Dude, this is Irish cuisine. Suck it up. Also, lay the butter on in slices.

8

Corned beef and cabbage is about as Irish as the bagel.

Some Irish cuisine is excellent such as a good stew or a well made shepard’s pie.

Soda bread can be oomped up a little with some sugar and whole milk. That’s how my mother does it (sorry I couldn’t be more helpful :frowning: )

Butter does help a lot though but it’s got to be heavy Irish butter like Kerrygold.

9

I’ve got a REALLY good soda bread recipe I use; it’s even been sold at a bakery one of my friends used to have.

I uploaded the recipe to Recipe*zaar a while ago; here’s a direct link to the recipe itself - Irish Soda Bread (White).

It doesn’t have all the “stuff” in it; it’s a plain bread, but I’ve never had it turn out dry.

10

I got some from Junior’s in NYC that wasn’t half bad. It was about halfway to pound cake as far as the sweet factor went, but stayed edible (if very chewy) through Sunday noon when the last of it disappeared.

11

How weird, the non-traditional soda “bread” actually seems to be baked buttermilk pancake batter. I would have thought bread made with eggs is spelled “cake”.

12

Just baked a loaf yesterday, too good to quit eating. my recipe doesn’t turn out “dry” Best consistency comparison I can make is to a scone.

13

Did your recipe have caraway seeds and buttermilk?

14

Here’s the recipe I use:

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup raisins
Egg Wash

Combine dry ingredients, cut in butter till crumbly
Combine 2 eggs with buttermilk, stir into flour mixture just until moistened
Fold in raisins
Shape into a round loaf and place on a greased baking sheet
brush top of loaf with egg wash
bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until golden brown

15

The one I use, never had a problem:
3 c flour
3 T sugar
3 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c raisins
1 T caraway seeds
1 1/3 c buttermilk

Sift together dry ingredients; add seeds, raisins, buttermilk; knead.

Shape into a loaf, cut X on top, put on ungreased cookie sheet, bake at 375 for 45 minutes-1 hour.

Never used eggs in a soda bread before.

Could she have used too much flour?

16

you mean Guinness :smack: