Alright, so a number of ya’ll will know that I have quite the fancy for some biscuits. I’ve posted a few times about them here (see here and here). I’ve also found myself quite fond of Irish soda bread as well (probably because they’re like one big biscuit). Now, one of the things that I haven’t seen (but I’m sure I’m ont the one to have made them first (and a quick google search reveals that, yep I was not – but I did think of them independently! Which is worth a little something)) is soda bread as biscuits. In addition to the added benefit that now you’ve got biscuits, rather than one big loaf, there are a couple of practical benefits as well.
1. They are smaller and so when you freeze them, they’ll take less time to defrost.
2. They’re more portable and serve quite well as a snack.
3. They won’t have freezer burn in the same way that exposed slices of soda bread will.
Alright to the recipe!
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup plain cake flour (I omitted this just fine)
1/2 toasted wheat germ (again – oooomitted)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
3 tbsp rosemary
3 tbsp poppy seeds
1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk the dry ingredients (along with the sugar) together in a large bowl. Work the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or fingertips, or a pastry cutter, or use a food processor for all of this.
2. Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork just until the dough begins to come together.
Turn out onto a flour-coated work surface; knead until the dough becomes cohesive and bumpy 12-14 turns(ish). You don’t need to have it be smooth (in fact you don’t want it to be). If you overknead it, it’s ok, it’ll just be more flaky.
3. Pat the dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and cut the irish biscuits out using any means necessary. Alternately, you can simply cut them into squares (cut in half then half then half, and stop whenever you feel like the biscuits are the right size.
4. Bake until they are golden brown and the internal temperature is about 190 degrees (but really just wait for them to be golden brown and you are set).
Top as your proclivity suits!!!
lepainmonger 