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Irish soda bread
8 c. white flour (unbleached)
4 c. buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
5 tsp. baking soda
1 c. currants (optional)
1 tsp. butter or oil
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Preheat the oven to 350 F. stir in buttermilk, a cup at a time. You should make a fairly soft dough that will nonetheless hold its shape. Thus, you may need the full amount of buttermilk. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board (this is a stock phrase; do it anyway). Knead until it is smooth and soft, probably about 7 minutes. You should have to keep adding a little flour to the board for the first few minutes to keep the dough from sticking. Are you using currants? Knead them in, then. Or don't, accordingly. Tear the dough in half. Form each half into a ball. With a knife, slash a cross in the top. Place the balls, cross up, well apart, on a greased baking sheet. Put this sheet, bread side up, into the oven. Bake for 35 or 40 minutes. The loaves are done when they sound hollow at a knocking hand. They should also get to be a nice light brown color. The cross will split open, and the resultant points will get hard and dark brown. Soda bread has a tendency to crack in the oven.
If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective? ~Ymber Delecto
Cherries: These are the only known natural food source of the sleep inducing hormone melatonin! Eat a bowl of them about 30 minutes before bedtime
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