It's cold and snowy outside so all I wanted for the past few days was soup and bread. I ended up making an awesome tomato cabbage barley soup but there was no bread to be found in the house. *gasp* Clearly I have been slacking since I always have at least one type of homemade bread in the house. I didn't want to wait hours for a yeasted bread so I decided on Irish Soda Bread with Golden Raisins (page 400). Yes I know those aren't golden raisins. It doesn't matter though because the Thompson raisins I used were excellent as well, so back off!
Anyway, the bread is super easy to put together with ingredients you most likely have kicking around. It bakes up in about 45 minutes and the result is a warm, dense loaf which is wonderful slathered with margarine and served alongside a hearty soup or stew. This bread however, is best the same day you make it as there's really not much fat in it (i.e., it doesn't store well).
Taste-wise, it is a fairly neutral bread. Since there isn't any yeast or a lot of other flavourful ingredients, there isn't a ton of flavour. That neutral taste though goes for any Irish Soda Bread and it means it goes well with a savoury soup or stew or even a sweet jam. Even though there are raisins in it, the bread doesn't clash with other dishes. It went surprisingly well with my strong-tasting, heavy soup.
The next time you want some bread to go along with your soup or stew, give this a shot. It's easy, neutral-tasting, fast and a nice change of pace from yeasted bread.
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Oh that looks good, kind of like a raisin biscuit? I love biscuits. I probably would smother with vegan butter, because I'm fat like that lol, yum, good job!
ReplyDeleteIt's more dense than a biscuit or a scone but perfect with a hearty soup! As mentioned though, it's pretty much only good the same day you make it since there isn't any fat in it aside from the soy milk.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm ... wonder if you could then transform the leftovers into French toast?
ReplyDeleteThat could be interesting. It's not quite the right texture that we're used to but I don't see why you couldn't. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW, HI CASSIE!!! I have been such an absentee VFFer these days.
I never seem to have bread in the house these days, but I'm craving French toast. Hence, my idea. Oh, and hi back! My VFFing goes in spurts, depending on workload (as I'm sure you can relate). I do miss you weighing in on all things cooking, but at least I can stalk the blog. Heh.
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