It would seem that for most of my life I took this food item for granted. Delicious Irish Soda bread was available in most any store around St. Patrick's day and served at all local St. Patty's day dinners. Though I'm sure the recipes varied slightly from one to the other, it followed a general set of rules; not to dense not too airy, a little sweet but just barely, raisins, baking soda, caraway seeds (this is optional), delicious (this is not). Ok, so I admit that I have never actually made Irish Soda bread (I did not need to seeing how available it was) but I do have a good sense of what it should taste like. LA, however, has no idea. This is the third St. Patrick's day in a row that I have attempted to find something comparable to what I have had on the east coast and this is the third year where I have failed.
The first yeah I ended up getting a loaf from Ralphs, a large chain grocery store. I knew it was not going to be right from appearance alone, not at all crusty enough and covered in granulated sugar (?!?!). When I got it home and tried it I knew I had made a mistake. This was almost nothing like what I know Irish Soda bread to be. It was very soft and airy, no raisins and very sweet. It was ok, if you removed any idea of Irish Soda bread from your mind while eating it, but it was far from good. Year two of the quest I took a step in the right direction, the loaf I found was close the correct texture, had raisins but it was still not right and still covered in sugar. This one was good but not the same nonetheless. This year, however, was a total bust. Refusing to go back to either of those places I went instead to Wholefoods, I had seen some there a week earlier and it looked right (no granulated sugar). Yesterday though when I was there it seemed they had all sold out - I will never know if this Wholefoods Irish Soda bread was the one I had been searching for this whole time; that's what I get for waiting until St. Patrick's day I suppose.
I have come to the conclusion though, that I just need to make my own; now off to look through recipes online and find one that seems to describe what I am searching for.
1 comment:
Bobs redmill products makes a good Irish soda bread mix - give it a try - we liked it which equals it was gone the same day it was made!
Or maybe it is just an omen that you should be living on the East coast for those finer things in life! He He :-)
Post a Comment