recipe: Irish soda bread

taken from: Serious Eats 

bad pic, but this was a yum
St. Paddy's day din

changes: none!

ingredients:

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 & 3/4 tsp kosher salt

- 1 & 1/8 tsp baking soda

- 2 & 1/4 cups buttermilk

to make: 

adjust oven rack to middle position & preheat oven to 450 degrees F. roughly cover the bottom of a deep 10" cast iron or enameled Dutch oven with a sheet of parchment paper. 

combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk to combine. stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until dough is fully moistened and all small pockets of flour are gone. for extra-fluffy results, stop folding as soon as dough comes together. for extra-chewy results, fold dough about 20 seconds more. scrape sticky dough into the prepared Dutch oven and smooth with a spatula until the dough is a consistent(ish) round shape. score deeply into quarters with a sharp knife.   

cover and bake until well risen and golden, about 45 minutes. remove lid and continue baking until chestnut brown, with an internal temp of 210 degrees F, 12-15 minutes longer. invert onto a wire rack, discard parchment, and cool until it has set, about 30 minutes. 

it can be stored in an airtight container for 24 hours. 

results: amazing. i had no expectations, but the texture and flavor of this bread was on-point. cracky crust, doughy insides, great rustic-tasting (is that flavor?) bread.