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In Search of the Perfect Loaf
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10803 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1993 |
1,315 Words |
| Author
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Linda Joyce Forristal
Linda Joyce Forristal, Life editor for The World & I, is a
member of Les Dames d'Escoffier and is on the board of the
Weston A. Price Foundation. |
Trying to regain knowledge lost. A personal quest to retrieve lost heritage. These words describe the forces directing my search. Several years ago my husband and I visited Ireland where we stayed in numerous bed and breakfasts--B&Bs. Morning after morning, we were served a traditional Irish breakfast that included steaming hot tea, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a generous helping of freshly baked Irish soda bread smothered with butter and jam. The bread at each B&B was different, but all were delightful.
This experience was the beginning of a primal awakening. As I am of Irish descent on my father's side, the flavors and textures united to stir in me the realization of ancestral knowledge, not quite remembered. Thus began my quest to find the perfect loaf of Irish soda bread.
I obtained a couple of recipes from the owners of various B&Bs, but the measurements were in pounds, not cups, and given from memory, nothing like the recipes in most American cookbooks. Upon arriving home, I tried to re-create the wonderful breads I'd inhaled in Ireland, only to bring forth miserable imitations.
My search was not facilitated, to any great extent, by cookbooks readily available in America. Most of the standard cookbooks contain one, maybe two, very ordinary soda bread recipes. When I say "ordinary," I mean that the recipes prescribed the most basic ingredients--flour, baking soda, and buttermilk.
Frustrated, I started hunting down more recipes. I resorted to faxing hotels and B&Bs listed in tourist brochures. While the response ratio was not fantastic (due to the fact, I think, that some people guard their soda bread recipes like state secrets), I did receive some great recipes. The recipes I'll share with you here are the best among them.
It would be hard to pick a favorite, though I have one. I suggest you enjoy them all with your favorite jam and forgo any diet just long enough to allow yourself some real butter. Some people, however, are of the opinion that these breads are unusually delicious, and perhaps more purely experienced, without butter or condiments of any kind.
ONLY THE BEST
The ingredients you need to make Irish soda bread are sometimes hard to come by. I've heard stories of people hauling pounds of Irish flour back to
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