Never will I forget the story about the raisin buns from Frank McCourt‘s memoir about growing up in Limerick, Ireland, Angela’s Ashes.  Frank and his classmates, all varying degrees of impoverished, received their daily bread, a raisin bun, at school lunchtime. Only, the raisin buns never, ever, ever had any raisins. The raisins were a mythical thing, elusive and idealistic, like a unicorn or a mermaid, but something that never appeared in real life. As the story tells it, though, one day a single raisin appeared in Frank’s raisin bun, and each child begs Frank, famous now among his classmates, for that precious treat.

When I set out to construct a recipe for Irish Soda Bread, my first thought was about Frank’s raisinless raisin buns, and the second was of the two months I spent living in London the summer I was 20.

London, let’s say, was not my cup of tea. Since I was a student, mostly vegetarian, and could not afford expensive meals, I hunted around for something, anything to eat there.  The fruit and vegetables at the local grocer looked pallid and sad.  They cost so much, too, that I could not bear to buy them very often, even if for philosophical reasons. I subsisted mostly on Cadbury Dairy Milk, imported Swiss yogurt, PG Tips, and Irish Soda Bread from the Irish Bakery in the neighborhood near Hampstead Heath, where my flat was.

The Irish girl who handed me my roll each morning was all business, and I never did thank her for keeping my spirits up while in London as it would have embarrassed us both. Somehow, that bread sustained me through a dreary time till, eventually, I ran away to Rome, where, by the way, I ate like a queen for pennies and much more in my element.

So, here is an Irish Soda Bread of our own.  It uses cake flour, which makes it taste moister and richer than the traditional, and my goodness, we did not skimp on the raisins, or currants as the case is. In fact, we added a lot- so many that you will need to encourage them back into the bread as you carefully and gently knead it. You can be more judicious about the amount of currants that you add, but as for me and the mini-chefs, we delighted in the excess.

Irish Soda Bread

• 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal for lining the baking pan
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of cake flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 t. cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 T. sugar
• 2 T. butter, room temperature and cut into 8 pieces
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 1/2 c. currants (or golden or regular raisins)
• 2 T. butter, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet, for buns, or a 5 qt. cast iron dutch oven, for the large loaf, with the cornmeal.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar. Throw the butter pieces on top of the flour mixture, and using your hands, mix it together till the dough looks like a clumpy mess, with butter pieces here and there. Slowly pour in the buttermilk, stirring the dough with a large fork as you pour. Stir with that fork till the dough just barely comes together.  Add the currants.
3. On a lightly floured board, with lightly floured hands, knead the dough few times to shape it into one large ball, or smaller, individual sized balls to make buns.  Place the buns onto
4. Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes for the single loaf or 20-30 minutes for the smaller buns. They should be golden brown on top.
5. After removing the bread from the oven, use a pastry brush to immediately brush the entire crust with the 2 T. melted butter.
6. Let cool for a couple of minutes, and then dig in. Enjoy!