Welcome back to Cooking with Plushies!

We are again your chefs, KoonKoon and ChipChip, so lovely to see you wonderful friends!

This is the second recipe in our exploration of ancient mythologies and cultures. We previously visited ancient Greece. Greece, we already Arte-miss you! Today we are visiting Ireland and the rich depth of fairy lore! We are making Irish Soda Bread. As you can see, Mommy sewed us some new costumes! I am Zeus, the father of the Greek gods, and KoonKoon is an Irish Fairy Prince.

Some Brief Mythology and History:

Soda bread was invented by the Native Americans in 1830. When baking soda first came to Ireland (where the bread gets its name), soda bread became an Irish staple. In 1836 Ireland was suffering from a great famine. Soda bread was economically advantageous, as it only required four ingredients, and did not need yeast. It is still a staple today, with hundreds of recipe variations. The X across the top of the bread is said to let fairies out and ward off evil spirits (just like the garlic in our last recipe). Soda bread is also a great offering to the fey folk that inhabit our houses. The offerings promote goodwill and cooperation between humans and fairies. Okay, now we are taking off our professor’s glasses and putting on our chef’s hats. Class dismissed!

Ingredients:

(The formatted recipe for printing is at the bottom of this post)

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

Step One:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup of butter (reserving the rest for later).

Step Two:

• Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk (reserving rest for later), caraway seeds, raisins, and egg. Mixers are very efficient for this step.

Step Three:

We recommend you have a human perform this step. This dough is sticky! Sit back and eat some chocolate while they work. That’s the way this process works. If it ain’t brogue, don’t fix it.

• Lightly flour a surface and knead dough gently, until the dough no longer sticks to the hands.

Step Four:

• Spray an eight-inch round cake pan with oil or cooking spray.
• Add the dough to the pan and form it into a round.

Step Five:

This step is very important to let the fairies out, and ward off evil!

KoonKoon wouldn’t forgetting this be a jig mistake?

Ha ha ha, yes I’m Dublin over. You’re so clover!

Geez, KoonKoon, stick a Cork in me, I’m done.

• Cut an X on top of the dough.
• Mix together the 1/4 cup of buttermilk and the 1/4 cup of butter.
• Brush the mixture over the top of the bread.
• Cover the pan with tin foil, making sure the foil is tented and not touching the bread.

Step Six:

• Add 2 cups of water to the instant pot and set the trivet/rack inside.

Step Seven:

• Place the pan on the instant pot rack.
• Place the lid on the instant pot and turn the valve to seal it.
• Set the instant pot to high pressure for 45 min.

Step 8:

• Let the pressure release naturally for 15 min, then release any remaining pressure.
• Take the pan out, using heat protection, it will be very hot.
  • Remove the foil and let the bread cool moderately.
• Then serve up and enjoy.

Victory! Enjoy your bread and relax!

Thank you for hanging with us through good puns and bad (mostly bad haha). We discovered that the Irish gods are not as punny as the Greek ones. Gaelic is a complicated language! I mean what rhymes with Tuatha De Dannan anyways😂? Feel free to comment or ask any questions below. As always, we appreciate you. Friends like you are like four-leaf clovers: hard to find and lucky to have. Toodle-Lugh!