Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread is a staple in Ireland. A great accompaniment to any meal, it takes advantage of the reaction between baking soda and buttermilk to quickly leaven this bread. I chose a healthy simple version, and I chose to include raisins. Although it definitely wasn't my favorite quick bread, it's a great recipe to use up buttermilk and will stay in my buttermilk folder! I may even make it again next week to use up the 1/2 gallon I have left.
Reasons this is a perfect buttermilk user-upper:
- It uses quite a bit.
- The only other ingredients are pantry staples.
- It's not bad for you
- Can range from being toast at breakfast to the perfect side to a bowl of soup.

Whole-Wheat Soda Bread
adapted from: Eating Well
Ingredients:
1 C whole-wheat flour
1 C all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 C buttermilk

*This is actually 1/2 of the recipe that I was looking at. It's so easy to half or double though, just make sure you adjust the cooking time (which I failed at doing).

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle with a little flour.

2. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in buttermilk. Stir in fully circles until all the flour is incorporated. The dough should be soft but not too wet and sticky. When it all comes together, in a matter of seconds, turn it out onto a well floured surface.

3. Pat and roll the dough gently with floury hands, just enough to tidy it up and give it a round shape. Flip and flatten slightly. Transfer the loaf to the prepared baking sheet. Mark with a deep cross using a serrated knife and prick each of the four quadrants.

4. Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400 F and continue to bake until the loaf is brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped, 25-30 minutes more. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and cool.