Hey – I’m Irish, it’s St. Patrick’s Day…

and soda bread is a fabulous, easy-to-make snack. It’s versatile too, so whether you want it sweet or savory, you can change up the recipe to suit your tastes.

It’s called “soda” bread because it uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast.

Basic Healthy Soda Bread Recipe:

2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour (or you can use 4 cups of wheat flour…)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup of Agave nectar (or try honey)
2 1/4 cup buttermilk (may need more if dough dries out)

Combine all ingredients until they form a dough ball. Roll dough out onto baking sheet, form into a round loaf. Cut an “X” in the top (to allow steam to pass through). Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes (bread will sound hollow when tapped and will be golden brown on top).

Yummy additions to your Soda Bread

As I said, this is such a versatile bread. You can add cinnamon and raisins, or dried cranberries, or dried currants. Add dried apricots or apples. You can even add finely shredded zucchini – that’s Madd’s favorite!

As some of you know – I’m a lazy cook. This recipe is truly super easy and super quick. Madd and I like to whip this up for breakfast on Saturday mornings… nothing beats warm soda bread – YUM! Plus, it keeps well so I eat it as part of my snack for a few days.