Irish Soda Bread

Signs of Spring are in my yard!

We had friends over last night for a St. Patrick's Day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage (see this page). 

One of our friends cannot consume gluten, but that's easy in my house! 

For dessert, I made these delicious Almond Cookies (see this page).  I doubled the recipe here so that I could mail some to our son in ABQ, but my little food processor couldn't handle it.  Note to self:  Use a regular stand mixer for doubling the cookie recipe!

I haven't really done a lot of gluten free bread baking, so I wasn't too sure about making my own GF Irish Soda Bread.  (I'm pretty sure that other years I have purchased it from my local GF bakery, "Dee's One Smart Cookie.")  But this year I tried making it myself, and darn, it was great!

First, I pre-heated the oven to 375.

I took out my 8" cast iron skillet and sprayed it with cooking spray.

I took
1/2 cup of raisins
and poured hot (boiling) water over it, letting it sit for 5-10 minutes or so, then draining them.  This plumped up the raisins.  I was hoping this would help to make a nice, moist loaf.  Considering the good results I had, I won't skip this step next time!

In the stand mixer, I put in the following ingredients, in this order, while the mixer churned at its lowest level:

2 cups of Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour,
3 Tbs sugar,
1 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp baking powder,
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum,
4 Tbs SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend
(it's a powered buttermilk that you can find in the baking aisle),
1 tsp caraway seeds, and
1 tsp salt.

I added -
4 Tbs softened butter, and let it run until it's blended with the flour mixture, into little pieces.

Then I tossed in -
1 egg,
1 cup water, and
the soaked raisins.

I mixed it up until blended, then plopped the mixture into the prepared skillet. 
I smoothed the top with wet fingers, then
cut an "X" into the top, as can be seen above.

I baked this for 45 minutes, turning the oven down to 350 after about 25 minutes. 
When I took it out and tested it, I found that an instant-read thermometer clocked it at 190.
The color was pretty dark,
but the loaf had that nice hollow "thump" sound when I rapped on the bottom.
I let it cool on a wire rack.

When I cut it just before dinner, I was delighted to see it looking like this:

My guest loved it so much that I sent a few slices home with her. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day,
and
Happy Spring!

Show your love

Hubby was away for a little business trip.  You'd think he was doing the right thing, arranging his flights to take a southern route from the west coast back to New England.  However, the weather in Charlotte, NC, turned out to be worse than here.  His plane needed de-icing TWICE!

While he was gone, I sent him little texts and emails. 

It's nice to have him home again.

Today on Facebook, I was pleased to find that my daughter has been collecting all the things I have been sending her.  She lives far away, and I don't trust the delivery of anything of value, so I send cards and whatever might fit inside an envelope.  Apparently she has been creating a collage of sorts:

 

When you get down to it, it's amazing how much CAN fit in an envelope!

 

 



For my son, I like to send him packages of things he can't easily find in a southwestern U.S. college dining hall.  Which leaves just about everything, since he must keep gluten free. 

This week, I found the most amazing recipes for gluten free versions of Girl Scout Cookies here.

I immediately noticed the Tagalongs by Betsy, since I had all the ingredients right at home for that one.  This morning I got to work as hubby was encased in a metal flying machine on a messy runway.  There are many steps, and I didn't finish until mid-afternoon (he was safely home by then), but the results are awesome!

 

 

Changes I made:  I didn't add milk to the cookie mixture, and I didn't refrigerate this dough.  I just divided the dough into 36 pieces and smooshed them into a nice shape with wet fingers onto parchment paper.  (I'm amazed at the wonders of parchment paper and wet fingers with gluten free baking!)

Being a pharmacist's wife, I used the end of a pestle (i.e., mortar and pestle) to make indentations in the center of each cookie as it came out of the oven.

Please note:  A sandwich baggie is NOT strong enough to pipe the peanut butter filling onto the cookies.  (Ask how I know....)

I melted chocolate chips for the topping in a metal bowl set into a saucepan of water.  I frosted each cookie with a spatula, instead of dipping.  The chocolate didn't seem thin enough for dipping!

Move over, Girl Scouts!!

I'm sending most of these to my son, but we need some here, too!!



How do you show YOUR love?