YOU GUYS! I'm sorry I've abandoned this blog! I had no intentions of doing so, but I've been extremely busy doing this whole baking thing professionally! I've been working at an awesome French bakery and learning lots of fancy bread baking skills that I will someday be able to share with you, when I have time to breathe a little bit. Baking all day is tons of fun, but also tons of hard work!



1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) whole wheat flour (you can also use all white flour, but trust me, the whole wheat gives it so much more flavor!)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
3/4 cup (100 grams) golden raisins (I just think they're tastier than dark raisins.)
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) buttermilk, plus more for brushing on the loaf

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Transfer to a floured surface (sometimes you need quite a bit of flour to stop your hands from getting sticky) and
gently knead the
dough into a 7 inch round. Since, unlike yeast bread, soda bread doesn't form a skin, there's no real trick to this except to use a light hand and make sure it doesn't get too sticky. As long as it looks round-ish it will bake up fine. Place
the round on your prepared
baking sheet and then, using a pastry/basting brush, brush the whole surface of the loaf with buttermilk (this isn't shown in the picture but will make your loaf brown nicely in the oven!) With a sharp knife, cut a 1/4 inch deep equal-armed cross on the
top of the bread.
Bake
for about 40 - 50 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into
the center of the bread comes out clean.
I also missed blogging for the Spring Equinox. While my usual preparation for spring is dyed hard boiled eggs and challah - ALL THE EGGS! - I'm going to see if I can whip up something new and springy to share in the next couple weeks. Or, like a month. Or so. I can't make any specific promises, but I will return!
:D We're all so proud and happy that you are working in a bakery! Next stop, Hello Sweetie opening ;)
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