Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a slice of rustic Irish Soda Bread with raisins. This bread is a no-yeast bread and is so quick to make - it has no rising time! It is sweetened with raisins and a touch of sugar.
Preheat oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk 4 ¼ cups of the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter, a knife or your hands.
Use a measuring cup to measure out the buttermilk. Whisk in the egg and orange zest.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir the dough with a rubber spatula and add in the remaining ¼ flour, a bit at a time, until the dough is not too sticky.
Tip the dough onto a floured surface. With floured hands, knead the dough a few times until it just stays together. Combine the raisins with 1 tablespoon of flour and then knead them into the dough.
Gently form the dough into a round and place it onto the prepared baking sheet. Use a very sharp knife and score an "x" onto the top of the loaf.
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. The loaf will be 200°F when done. If the loaf is browning too much, place some aluminum foil on top.
The Irish soda bread will last up to 2 days at room temperature wrapped with aluminum foil. It will last for a week in the refrigerator.
Notes
For an easy buttermilk substitute, add 1 tablespoon and 2 ¼ teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar into a measuring cup. Fill up to 1 ¾ cup mark with milk. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. Use
Don't overwork the dough. You want to knead it very gently until it just comes together.
The dough will be sticky so use flour on your hands to easily shape it.
Score the top of the bread with an "X" shape. This helps the center of the bread bake through.