Chef Stefanie Paganini might have Italian roots, but she has traveled to Ireland and has an upcoming ‘Irish Pub Favorites’ cooking class. Stefanie shared her recipe for Irish Soda Bread with Fox 8’s Wayne Dawson.
Sweet Irish Soda Bread
Makes 1 9-inch loaf
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup currants, dried
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 3/4 cup whole milk
4 egg yolks, well beaten
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
Butter, as needed
Honey Butter:
1 Tbsp. honey
1 recipe fresh unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine all butter ingredients until well combined. Remove butter from bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
Sift all dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl. Add currants and raisins to dry ingredients and toss to coat.
In a separate bowl, mix together milk, eggs, and melted butter. Add liquid ingredients, to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
Butter the inside of a skillet (or a 9-inch loaf pan). Fill with batter. Smooth batter with a rubber spatula and lightly dot top of loaf with butter. Cook soda bread in preheated 350°F oven until risen and golden brown, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, cool for about 10 minutes, and turn out onto a wire cooling rack to complete cooling.
Serve warm with plenty of fresh honey butter.