Review: Slainte!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2012
Maggie O'Farrell tells you everything (almost) that you need to know about making authenticIRISH SODA BREADin the pages of this slim volume.  Maggie's recipes for White, Wheat, Whole Meal and Surprise (aka Irish-American with fruit) soda breads are simple to do and as soda bread is quite similar to what we call "biscuits" here in the US, may very well become a favorite.There are a couple of things you should take note of:  Maggie calls for bicarbonate of soda or bread soda in most of these recipes.  That is baking soda, the stuff in the orange box, not baking powder, the stuff in the round can.  She calls for unhomogenized buttermilk, something that will be impossible to find almost anywhere in the US. The trick is to get buttermilk that is made with an active culture.  Kate's brand is wonderful if you can find it, but you should be able to get cultured buttermilk in most communities.  Irish Soda Bread requires soft wheat flour.  All purpose just won't do.  You can use cake flour but it is expensive.  If you have a co-op or natural food store nearby you can probably buy pastry flour - also expensive, but less so.  Certainly, you can order authentic Irish flour online, but if you are lucky enough to live in the Southern US you can just go grab yourself a bag of White Lily flour.  White Lily is the GoTo flour in the South for perfect melt-in-your-mouth biscuits.  (Remember I told you soda bread was quite like biscuits?) Make sure that you do NOT get the White Lily Self Rising flour to make soda bread with.Great little book.  Highly Recommended.  Thanks Maggie!