The Plot Newsletter

Forwarded this email? Join free at the-plotnewsletter.com/subscribe

Hello Reader,

Happy belated St. Patrick’s day! If you stayed in last weekend, then you have another chance to celebrate this weekend. Otherwise, you could join me in just drinking Guinness year round. It’s always fun to bring a recipe to the newsletter. After all, this whole growing food thing is more fun when we move it into the kitchen. For today’s newsletter, I wanted to open my family cookbook and share our Irish soda bread recipe with you. Bread is a good staple to bake now, until we get fresh strawberries and rhubarb from the garden for pies. This bread is really easy to make and is a great side for soups and stews. The best part, if you are new to baking is that there is no need to proof since it does not use yeast. I used to always think that Irish soda bread was dry, and some sort of warning to never return to the homeland, but I’ve learned over the years that it is meant to be eaten fresh from the oven with a nice slathering of salted Kerri Gold butter. This part is important, so make sure to enjoy it fresh with butter or jam you preserved from your garden.

My grandma told me that every generation has tweaked the recipe over time. Adding and removing certain items. This recipe is certainly a far cry from the pared down famine era recipes with the raisins, butter, and sugar. I’m sure, given enough time, that I’ll make my own changes as well.

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 loaves

• 4 cups of all purpose flour

• ½ cup of sugar

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 stick unsalted butter

• 1 cup of raisins

• 1 ½ cup of buttermilk

• 1 egg

Step 1

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

Step 2

Cut butter into small chunks and add to the dry mixture. This takes time to make sure it is thoroughly mixed in.

Step 3

Add 1 cup of buttermilk to dry mixture. Add egg to remaining ½ cup of buttermilk, then add it to the dry mixture. Add in the raisins.

Step 4

Knead the mixture lightly on a lightly floured surface, then split mixture into two halves. Knead again lightly and “slap it around a bit” per my mother’s handwritten recipe. Place in greased, floured loaf pans and cut a cross into the top of the loaves. Bake at 375 degrees for around 45 minutes. Enjoy fresh from the oven.

Field Notes:

1. Today is my 35th birthday and I am very happy to get to share it with you this year! Reflecting on the last year, I realize how special it is that I get to write for so many cool gardeners like yourself! If you’d like to brighten my day, then consider becoming my first paid subscriber for $5 a month. It would help me turn this newsletter into a sustainable project and make my day!

Plotter’s Commons:

Bulletin Board

Last week we had a guest author Liz Sinclair teach us how to design a mostly native privacy hedge. Check in out if you missed it!

Written for 535 beautiful readers. 💌

Until next Thursday,
Ken Welch

About the Author

Ken Welch is a garden writer with a very serious degree in Horticulture. When his city lacked a community garden, he helped build one. He teaches new gardeners how to grow their own food.

Watch The Plot on YouTube

Cibus Est Imperium | Food is Power