[Erin]

I know it's a bit late for St. Patrick's Day but I want to make some. Sadly the traditional recipe I got from an Irish woman years ago is being held hostage by my mom. Long story. Can anyone be of assistance? while I am at it I am also looking for a dark rye bread recipe, Larousse and The Food Network have not come through. Thanks in advance!
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[woodstocker]

mmmmmmm soda bread with lots of butter. maybe even lightly toasted if you can resist eating it for that long.

[Rainey]

Here's a soda bread recipe from Nicole Weston: http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2006/03/cooking-school-irish-soda-bread.html Her recipes are always good.

I'll get you a rye bread recipe when I get back but I'm off this AM for a loooong drive back up to Santa Cruz.

You can also look through these forums because I posted another recipe for an onion and walnuts soda bread that looked pretty outstanding.
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God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[birgit]

Some time ago I've found a nice recipe for soda bread click here
Concerning the rye bread, are you looking for a recipe with rye flour or rye grits (?) ore whole rye grains? And with or without sourdough?

[Erin]

Very cool link Birgit, thanks. As far as the rye bread goes, you're blowing my mind lady. I will try to figure it out and let you know.
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[birgit]

... um, this might be because we're living here in rye breads' paradise ....
Just to explain a bit more: there are varieties with finely ground rye flour, often combined with normal wheat flour (a basic bread in this country), then you can grind the rye grains coarsely (and combine rye and other grains), resulting in more rustic looking breads, and you can as well leave the grains whole, soak them in water and then bake your bread with. This results in considerably dark bread "briquettes" which improve with age, sometimes with added sunflower seeds, and there are several methods, I've heard of, as there are, e.g. baking the bread in foil or bake it more than once , etc. They're mostly sold in slices (because of their "briquette" status, they need a bit of time to get softer ... ).
The more rye you use in your bread the better it is to use sourdough, because the dough tends to get heavier. If you can't digest yeast products there is an ingredient called baking ferment, but as far as I know here as well you should use rye within a combination of other flours/grits.
Last but not least there is a speciality called "pumpernickel", which is very dark and tastes slightly sweet, this is sold in even thinner slices and it's lovely with cream cheese. I've never tried to bake it, though, but I assume it's the soaked rye basis, baked more than once.

[Erin]

Hands down the pumpernickel! I love it with cream cheese.

Rye bread paradise, sounds nice. Thank you for the info, I knew there were a few different, but that knowledge stops at dark rye, light rye and the marble rye Jerry Seinfeld stole from the elderly woman!
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[Kathleen Zeller]

I got this recipe years ago - don't remember where but it is super quick and easy. I make it at least once a week. (Sliced hot with honey.)
If you can't find buttermilk I have substituted a cup of plain yogurt and a cup of regular milk....and I have substitued wheat germ for bran flakes. It's a pretty flexible recipe.
Here's the link: http://thymeforcooking.com/recipe/desserts/brownbread.html
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Katie

[birgit]

While researching rye breads I've stumbled across a very interesting and searchable bread baking mailing list : click here