Irish Freckle Bread
Until recently, I haven’t spent much cooking time delving into my Irish and Scottish heritage. I learned to make Irish soda bread a few years ago and I have found a great recipe for Irish beef stew, and I love Scottish baking treats such as shortbread and scones, but that’s really been the extent of it. While I don’t plan to ever make haggis or become a whisky aficionado, I do want to expand my cooking horizons. So this year Mom and I decided to try some other Irish foods, in particular Irish Freckle Bread. Mom did the research and found a recipe, and I made it for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner last week. I’m a little late posting, but I’m still getting caught up after being on vacation!
This is a potato bread, an enriched dough with a soft texture, and the “freckles” come from raisin, currants, chopped dates, cranberries, or anything similar that you can add. The loaf is made by rolling the dough into eight balls, then letting it rise and bake in a 10-inch springform pan. When I first put the dough balls into the pan, I though there was no way I needed a pan that large, but I let it go to see what would happen. Boy, am I glad I did! The dough rose a bit during the rising time, but it ballooned in the oven and went over the top of the pan, forming a beautiful crown. Read more
