Irish Soda Bread

This recipe cutout from my grandmother's cookbook is from the 1940s-50s.

My grandmother's family was certainly Irish, even speaking in the Irish brogue as my mother recalls.

Part of this recipe reads, "The aroma of baking bread is the perfume of Irish farmhouses." How beautiful.

This Irish soda bread tastes like biscuits because it's made with buttermilk!

I use a cast iron Dutch oven but it actually says it can be baked on a cookie sheet.

The recipe is:

1 TBSP butter (I use a little more)

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1-1.5 cups buttermilk (I use 1.5 and a little more)

Instructions:

1. Cut the butter into the flour until the texture is like cornmeal

2. Add the soda and salt

3. Add the buttermilk until making a firm ball

4. Flatten on a baking sheet until it's 1.5 inches thick

5. Cut the cross into the top

6. Bake at 425 degrees F for 35-45 minutes.