Irish Soda Bread, Yum!

Thanks to Shauna Ahern, of gluten free girl blogdom, I decided to try my hand at gluten free Irish Soda Bread. And just like she explains in her blog post about the time she made Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread, it does taste rather like a scone. Her recipe was adapted from a Whole Foods recipe and my recipe is adapted from Shauna's version. What did I change or add? More sugar in the dough, caraway seeds, cardamon, soy milk, and apple cider vinegar.

I've now made Irish Soda Bread four times. The first three times, I made it from a gluten free cookbook from England. After eating it at a fellow Celiac's house, I just had to make it for myself. I followed the same recipe she followed. Those first three attempts were not great. Each time, it came out wet. This time, when I adapted gluten free girl's recipe, it still came out kind of wet. But this morning, after leaving out on the counter all night, it dried out!!! So, perhaps if I had tried that with my first three attempts, I would've been more pleased with the results.

Shauna, you're brilliant! This combination of flours is fantastic - I swear, it tastes just like rye bread. I'm pretty sure that the caraway seeds contributes to that as well. I wonder if I could add molasses? Hmmmm, I will think about trying that the next time I make it.

Anyway, we've been slicing off thin pieces all day, thinking we're not really making much of a dent in the bread. But guess what? There's only about 1/4 of it left and it's not even been 24 hours! I'm going to have to work extra hard at the gym this weekend:).

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread
adapted from a Whole Foods recipe and again from Shauna Ahern

1 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 cup teff flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes (I might skip the soaking the next time I make it)
1 cup plain soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan then sprinkle with some rice flour.

Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir until you have a consistent mixture.

In a measuring cup, pour the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk and stir to combine.

In a second, smaller bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together, including the soy milk/vinegar mixture. Make a small well in the dry ingredients, then slowly pour the wet ingredients into the well, then stir with a spoon until just combined. The dough will be very sticky, but it shouldn't be too dry. I sprinkled some rice flour on my work surface and on my hands and continued working the dough on this surface. Then I formed it and placed it on the baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or so, or until a butter knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Delish. Great with the leftover split soup from a few days prior.