As a child, I can remember visiting my grandmother and smelling the sour bottle of whole milk she used to put on her windowsill each week so that the warmth and sun would make it sour into the equivalent of buttermilk. That would be the basis for her soda bread recipe. I can vividly remember the smell as I'm typing this - happy childhood memories! I hope you make this and enjoy it too. Please feel free to share with friends.

Options

You can make this with store bought buttermilk, or alternatives that I've listed in the ingredients. All of them turn out well, so choose what you prefer. You can also remove or reduce the white granulated sugar to taste. With the half cup it is a delicious sweet soda bread perfect for butter or jam. Without is truer to the original, I added sugar so that my kids would like it more. The same is true for the raisins, they are totally optional and I typically add raisins to one of the two halves of dough - BUT the soda bread with raisins always gets eaten first!

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 3 cups of room temp buttermilk (substitute sour cream or plain Greek yogurt)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease large baking tray or cookie sheet
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk, raisins, and mix until just combined
3. On a floured surface kneed the mix into a rough dough, then divide in two
4. Place each halve on the tray, sprinkle the top of each loaf with flour, then score a cross on the top of each with a sharp knife
5. Bake the loaves at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until golden brown
6. Remove and let the loaves cool on a cooling rack

I hope you enjoy making this family favorite as much as you enjoy eating it!