100) Irish Soda Bread

A few weeks ago the Bee heard us talking about St Patrick's Day and begin asking us a bunch of questions about what it was and what you do on St Patrick's Day. Her dad and I were kind of stumped. I don't know the the story behind St Patrick's Day and I was driving the car so I couldn't even google up some answer. So I said the only thing that came to my mind, you make Irish soda bread. You should know that I have never in my life made Irish soda bread before. But I always get tripped up by the car questions, when I am not really paying attention. And one thing you should know about the Bee, she never forgets. If you told her something you better be prepared to stick to it. So a few days later I looked up a recipe for Irish soda bread and much to my relief the recipe was actually pretty doable. Here is what you need:
4 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
 4 tablespoons of butter
 1 cup of raisins (optional)
 1 large egg
 13/4 cups of buttermilk


You start by mixing all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda) into a bowl, you then blend the butter in until it is crumbly. We used a pastry cutter (which the Bee loved) but you could easily use your fingers. We opted to not use the raisins but if you like raisins in your bread you would add them here. Once the ingredients are all mixed up, you make a well in the center and add the egg and buttermilk. Then use a wooden spoon to mix until combined. Use your hand to kneed the dough together a little before forming it into a ball. The dough is really shaggy, even when it is done! Once you have formed the dough into a ball or loaf shape then cut an X into the top with a large knife. The recipe I read said this is really important so the dough cooks all the way through. Then put the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet and place in a 425 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. When the bread is done take it out to cool 5 minutes before serving. It was so good! Notice how I used the past tense because it is already pretty much gone. The girls loved it, our friend Debbie loved it and I most definitely loved it! So I think this is the beginning of our new St Patrick's Day tradition. What do you do for St. Patrick's Day?