Irish Soda Bread

Irish soda bread
recipe from simply recipes

• 4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 4 T butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk (make your own buttermilk by adding 1 T vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk, let stand 5 minutes to curdle.)

Preheat oven to 425°. Stir together 4 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter; work butter into flour mixture until it resembles peas, stir in raisins. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is stiff. Gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in some more flour. (Do not over knead) Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf. Transfer dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough with an cross shape. Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped with a knife, about 35-45 minutes.Transfer bread to a rack to let cool briefly. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, with butter.