Irish Soda Bread Muffins

The old-world Irish soda bread uses coarse whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk (if you were flush), or sour milk (if you were struggling). We’re lucky that our shelves are flush with creamy white flour, cultured high-grade buttermilk, rich European (and yes, Irish) butter and organic whole-grain flour. On this March day, as I’m making the Americanized Irish soda bread muffins with plenty of premium produce, I’m mindful of the struggles and devastations in Ukraine.

Soda bread is among the easiest to make. There are very few ingredients and uses baking soda as the instant leavening agent. You can also bypass the typical kneading required for most bread dough. Likewise, the same is true for these Irish soda bread muffins. I dress them up in paper muffin cups (sorry I didn’t have any in St. Patrick’s green). The muffin size encourages grab and go. However, you do need to get a muffin tin for baking and a cookie scoop to fill the tin. Twenty minutes in the oven and a few minutes of cooling, the muffins are good to eat. How easy is that?

One particular recipe highlight to note:

Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won’t take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough. ~ King Arthur Baking Company

Print Recipe

Irish Soda Bread Muffin

By King Arthur Flour – Serves: 12

Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cooking Time: 20 minutes – Total Time: 30 minutes

These coffee-break-sized muffins, bursting with tiny sweet currants and a hint of caraway, are the perfect offering for St. Patrick's Day

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (180g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cup (85g) King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (74g) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (170g) currants (first choice) or raisins
• 1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup (227g) buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
• 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted; or 1/3 cup (67g) vegetable oil
• coarse sparkling sugar, for topping

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers.

2

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants or raisins, and caraway seeds.

3

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).

4

Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won't take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.

5

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar.

6

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don't get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.

Notes

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/irish-soda-bread-muffins-recipe

Traditional Irish Soda Bread