Adventures with Irish Soda Bread

In 8th grade I did my country report on Ireland. 

Part of my presentation was baking Irish Soda Bread for the entire class. 

I'm pretty sure I got a really bad grade on the presentation, 

BUT my teacher, Mrs. Newman,  (who was from England) said the bread was really good.

She then asked me why I chose Ireland for my country. 

I said it was really pretty and I liked the green hills. 

What I wanted to say was that I hoped one day I'd marry a hot Irish guy and I was preparing culturally for our marriage.

Fast forward many years later.

I am seven years into my marriage with said hot Irish guy and I have yet to make him Irish Soda Bread.

So this week, I made a loaf using this recipe from iVillage.

It had only six ingredients so I thought, "Eh, why not?"

I did it all by hand.

I felt like a pioneer woman.

Or a country Irish woman making bread for her family.

It was actually fun crumbling the butter into the flour and kneading dough.

At one point I thought:

"I can't wait to have little kids. We would make this together every Saint Patrick's Day."

Real talk:

It took me three times to get the soda bread right.

Turns out that the iVillage recipe wasn't the hottest girl at the party.

So I went with this one from All Recipes.

Much, much better.

I liked it. 

Hot Irish Husband liked it.

We slathered on some butter and seedless raspberry jam and really liked it.

 8th grade assignment = complete.

Mrs. Newman would be proud.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, My Friends!

photos by Dancing Branflake