Copycat Rankin Irish Fruit Soda Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour.
• With a fork, lightly beat the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest together in a measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Combine the currants with 1 tablespoon of flour and mix into the dough. It will be very wet.
• Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and knead it a few times into a round loaf. Place the loaf on the prepared sheet pan and lightly cut an X into the top of the bread with a serrated knife. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it will have a hollow sound.
• Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to about 180 Celcius (around 350 Fahrenheit / Gas Mark 4), or perhaps just a little less.
• Lightly oil or grease a small (1Lb) loaf tin or lightly flour (or oil) a flat baking tray if you don't have / want to use a loaf tin.
• If substituting for the buttermilk with milk and lemon juice then do that now and put it aside.
• Sieve/sift the flour into a medium sized mixing bowl and add the salt. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture.
• Add the Sultanas and if using them, caraway seeds and vitamin C powder.
• Stir together with a wooden spoon.
• Add and stir in the baking soda.
• Add enough of the buttermilk to make a soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly. It should require a couple of minutes at most. Basically you're adding the buttermilk as you're kneading it just enough to work the ingredients together properly at which point it needs to be baked straight away in the hot oven.
• If using a baking tray rather than a loaf tin, then form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Otherwise shape it to a similar size but such as will fit in the loaf tin.
• Place it on a lightly-floured baking tray and lightly cut a cross in the top with a floured knife "to let the faeries out so they don't jinx your bread", or just put it in the loaf tin and lengthways cut a line along the top.
• Put at once to bake near the top of the pre-heated oven. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. "When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles.".
• Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel if you prefer the crust to be softer.
• This bread will keep well for a couple of days if very well wrapped. If unwrapped it will dry out very quickly - within half a day. It freezes beautifully.
• Best served slightly warm on its own or with butter.
• Note:.
• The Rankin recipe that I was copying does not use caraway seeds at all and uses sultanas not raisins. Some Irish fruit soda bread recipes use caraway seeds and a larger number don't. I love caraway seeds but I like this bread best without. I've listed as a suggestion only. I use Bread flour because I have plenty and I imagine it gives a better rise but I understand that plain flour (All Purpose Flour) works just fine-never used it myself.
• Historical notes:.
• There are hundreds or thousands of recipes, most of them contain egg or rice flour or cornflour etc. Such ingredients would not have been available to most poor Irish families in towns and cities. The point of Irish Soda Breads (as well as Scottish Shortbreads for that matter) was that it was made by a people so poor that they could not even afford to buy yeast (which was not readily available) to bake their daily bread and was basically the normal bread such as they baked every day which had sugar and fruit added as a special sweet and fruity Sunday treat because they couldn't afford to make a proper cake.
• It's convenient from a cutting point of view if you've got a very small loaf tin, but a flat or round baking tray will do fine. It was originally made as round loaf sitting on a griddle (UK: basically a form of frying pan) baked in a Bastible (an iron baking pot - a type of oven - they were made in Barnstable, Devon hence the name) over the glowing embers of a peat turf fire. Because of the way the bread rises it's not essential to be so accurate as it is with a yeast-based bread so volume measures (cups and spoons) could just as easily be used instead if you don't have a set of kitchen scales as would have been the case across Ireland in the early 1800s when they were first made.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt and mix well. Cut the butter and shortening into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Using your fingers, work the cold butter and shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, the buttermilk, the dried fruit and the walnuts and mix into the flour mixture until it is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently until the dough forms a smooth ball. Shape the dough into a round loaf. Place the dough onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. Score the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife. Place the loaf in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Steps:

• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; mix well and add raisins.
• Beat eggs in a smaller bowl.
• Add buttermilk to eggs and beat until combined.
• Add egg mixture to butter and dry ingredients.
• Stir until moistened.
• Pour into greased layer cake pan or pie pan. (Dough will be very thick and dense).
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.
• *Delicious served hot with butter!*.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease two loaf pans.
• Sift all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a large bowl.
• Add brown sugar and stir well to incorporate, being very careful to break up any lumps of brown sugar.
• Add buttermilk and stir well.
• Divide the dough between the two prepared loaf pans.
• Bake for about 45 minutes or until brown and crunchy.
• Cool on wire racks.

Steps:

• Place wholemeal in a large mixing bowl.
• Sieve in Cream flour, salt, soda and sugar (if used).
• Add buttermilk and oil.
• Mix well.
• Transfer to a well greased 2lb loaf tin.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C, 325°F, Gas 3 for approximately 1 hour.
• Bread will be baked if base sounds hollow when tapped.
• Cool on a wire tray. For a soft crust, wrap bread in a clean tea towel.
• Variations for bread In preparation, after adding the buttermilk and oil, add 50g/2oz chopped walnuts and 50g/2oz chopped dried apricots; When adding buttermilk and oil, add 1 tablespoon of treacle; Add 50g/2oz of grated cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Spray heavy baking sheet with nonstick spray.
• Whisk both flours, sugar, and baking soda and either option you might be using in medium bowl to blend.
• Add margarine and cut in until margarine is reduced to pea-size pieces and add buttermilk; stir until shaggy dough forms.
• Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and knead until dough comes together, about 10 turns.
• Shape dough into 7 to 9-inch round (the round should be about 1 inch high).
• Place dough on prepared baking sheet.
• Cut large X, 1/2 inch deep, in top of dough.
• Bake bread in center of oven for 15 min at 425 F then turn it down to 375 F for 40-45 minutes until deep brown and bottom sounds hollow when firmly tapped (a bamboo skewer inserted into the center of the bread should emerge clean without any stickiness or moistness), about 55-60 minutes total oven time.
• Transfer bread to rack and cool completely.
• Enjoy it's dense, hearty texture.
• TIP:.
• For this kind of dough, the less you handle and work it the better.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• In a small bowl combine all the seeds and set aside.
• Combine the flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the seeds.
• Stir the sour milk/buttermilk (recommend using smaller amount and gradually add more milk as needed) into the dry ingredients just to blend (dough will be sticky).
• Turn out dough on to a well floured board and knead about 5 times, just enough to pull it together into a loose ball. (over kneading will make the bread tough).
• Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and mark it with a deep cross across the top, cutting two-thirds to the way through the loaf with a serrated knife.
• Brush with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of seeds.
• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
• Cool on rack.