Irish Soda Bread With a Twist

First, the event went really well last night. The day started with a downpour but ended with sun and 59 degrees. We had quite a drop off in attendance (compared to rsvp's) but the women who did come were great and our volunteer models (committee members) were incredible! Big thanks to Cara from Urban Athletics for showing us some great new running gear and teaching us about the importance of fabrics!

Okay.... so it's St. Patrick's Day, right? Well, the past few years Woody and I have treated ourselves to a loaf of Irish Soda Bread from Whole Foods this time of year. The other day, I found a recipe on Trader Joe's website that looked pretty simple and like something I could do. I've never baked bread, so this was going to be a first for me and I didn't want anything too complicated. Also, I had all the ingredients on hand!

I decided to make it Sunday morning so it would be baking when Woody got home from the gym (I just use the elliptical and weights in the small gym in our building) and we could enjoy fresh baked bread with our breakfast, assuming it all worked out.

And, it did!

The original recipe is here, but I made a few tweaks to make it a little healthier. No surprise there, right?

Healthy Irish Soda Bread

ingredients:
1.5c white flour
1.5c whole wheat flour
3tsp baking powder
1/4tsp sea salt
1/2c sugar
1c raisins
2tbs softened whipped butter
1tsp cinnamon
2tsp ground flax seeds
1 egg
1.25c original, unsweetened almond milk

1. Pre-heat oven to 350' if using a glass 8x8 dish, or 375' if metal.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl by hand. Make sure to break up clumps of raisins if they're sticking together.
3. In another bowl, mix the egg and milk.
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients thoroughly, then mix in the softened butter.
5. Pour into baking dsh and bake for 45 - 60 minutes. You'll know it's done when the bread doesn't give too much when touched.

I really wasn't sure if it was done or not, so after the first 45 minutes I checked it and put it back in for a few more minutes. The edges were browned a bit and I basically just decided to take it out and hope it was ready. Thankfully, it was.

I let it sit for a few minutes then sliced one edge, cut in half, and both Woody and I enjoyed a piece with a bit of my Grandma's strawberry jam. I don't know if that's the traditional way of eating Irish Soda Bread, I doubt it is, but then again, these ingredients aren't traditional either! What mattered, was that it tasted great and now we can have Irish soda bread all year long!

• Have you ever made bread from scratch?
• Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? 

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Today's workout -
45 minute elliptical
lots of stretching and foam roller