Irish Soda Bread (gluten free!)

This post first appeared on my original blog, Which Name?, on March 15, 2011

 

I love Irish Soda Bread. (Love it!)  I was faced with wanting it and not being able to eat the wheat. So I looked to my now favorite gluten-free baking book for a recipe, and found one.

I tried it, altering a few ingredient to make it closer to my mom's recipe, and it is delicious. Truly, you almost can't tell the difference.

Gluten free Irish Soda Bread
(from Gluten Free Baking Classics, by Annalise Roberts)
(I have made my own notes on changes throughout. C = cup, t = teaspoon, T = tablespoon)

1 and 3/4 C gluten free brown rice flour mix (or any gluten free flour blend)
2 T granulated sugar
2 T buttermilk powder (Nicola's note: I skip this and the water, below. Instead, use 3/4 buttermilk or a substitution of 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice with milk added to make 3/4 cup sour milk. Fresh buttermilk is best, though.)
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda (Nicola's note: You can add a little more. It is soda bread, after all.)
3/4 t xanthan gum
1/4 t salt
1/2 C raisins
1 T caraway seeds (Nicola's note: I skip the caraway seeds and add chopped apricots, so the raisins and apricots added total 3/4 cup.)
3/4 C water (Nicola's note: skip this if you added buttermilk as I noted above.)
3 T canola oil
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Position rack in center of the oven. Lightly grease and 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray and dust with rice flour.
2. Combine flour, sugar, buttermilk powder (if you use this), baking soda, xantham gum, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix in raisins and caraway seeds (or apricots if you use them) until well coated.
3. Combine water (or buttermilk), oil, and egg in a small bowl and whisk until well blended.
4. Add water mixture to flour mixture all at once and mix until well blended. Use a rubber spatula to shape dough into a ball and with well floured hands (rice flour!), dump ball into the center of the pan.
5. Use well floured hands (rice flour!), shape ball into a 6 inch round mound, so there is a 1/2 to 1 inch space between the mound and the side of the pan and so that the center is slightly higher than the rim of the pan.
6. Use a sharp knife to cut a deep X in the dough.
7. Bake bread in the center of the preheated oven for 40 -40 minutes. (Nicola's note: mine, with the changes, took closer to 50 minutes.) Bread should be a dark golden brown and a knife through the center should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack and do not slice until cool.

Enjoy!