Martha Stewart's Foolproof Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Well, if you're not spending St. Patrick's Day at the bar, you may as well spend it in the kitchen. After all, we hear baking bread is a great stress reliever (remember when all the Silicon Valley tech bros turned to it?) and we're sure you have some time to kill at home.

It's not green beer, but Martha Stewart's super easy to make Irish Soda Bread will definitely get you in a festive mood. 

Watch the how-to video HERE!

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup apple-cider vinegar
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and dusting
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup unprocessed wheat bran
1/4 cup caraway seeds
1 cup (5 ounces) raisins
Salted butter, preferably Irish, for serving

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix milk and vinegar in a small bowl, and let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Step 2
Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut in unsalted butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add bran, caraway seeds, and raisins; stir to distribute.

Step 3
Pour milk mixture into flour mixture; stir until dough just holds together but is still sticky. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat and press the dough gently into a round, dome-shaped loaf, about 7 inches in diameter. Transfer to prepared sheet.

Step 4
Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top, 3/4 inch deep. Bake, rotating halfway through, until loaf is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour, 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Soda bread is best eaten the day it is made; serve with salted butter.