Soda bread is an Irish favorite

HYDE PARK, N.Y. — If you're like countless others who happily look forward to St. Patrick's Day, you prepare your celebration. You rummage through the closet in search of green clothing, decorate your home with shamrocks and leprechauns, and search for Irish recipes in your cookbooks.

Before you finish your menu, be sure to include soda bread. Sliced thick, slathered with butter, and served with other typical Irish foods, soda bread is a tasty contribution to festive St. Patrick's Day meals.

With a history spanning more than two centuries, soda bread is a traditional Irish specialty. The first loaf, consisting of little more than flour, baking soda, salt and sour milk, made its debut in the mid-1800s when baking soda found its way into Irish kitchens.

At the time, bread-making in rural Ireland was carried out domestically using minimal ingredients, equipment and finesse. Baking soda offered home cooks the opportunity to broaden their repertoire of recipes.

Providing a quick, convenient and reliable leavener, baking soda was simple to work with and easy to store. It also produced a better-tasting bread than what was originally available in the 19th century, and soda bread soon became a staple of the Irish diet.

Today, soda bread is enjoyed throughout the world. Many take pleasure in its tangy flavor, dressing it with butter and preserves for breakfast, eating it with cheese for a light snack — or serving it as an accompaniment to a celebratory feast.

Since it's a quick bread, it's simple to prepare. The ingredients come together in a matter of minutes and the loaf is ready to eat in under half an hour.

Soda bread can be made with a variety of flours, and can have differing flavors and textures from added dried fruits, herbs and seeds. The Culinary Institute of America's version, made with the addition of sugar, raisins and caraway seeds, uses white cake flour for a light, tender crumb.

"Like most baked goods, soda bread doesn't keep for long," John Reilly, associate professor in culinary arts at The Culinary Institute of America, says. "If properly cooled, wrapped well in plastic, and stored at room temperature, it will maintain its quality for about two days."

To keep the bread moist and preserve its unique texture, some traditional recipes recommend wrapping freshly baked loaves in a clean tea towel while they cool.