These recipes go along with my Youtube video on how to make a healthier version of Soda Bread. The video will be at the bottom of this article.

Prep time: 15 minutes  Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

•     4 to 4 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour
•     2 Tbsp honey
•     1 teaspoon Celtic Sea salt
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     3 Tbsp butter- melted
•     1 cup currants or raisins (if desired)- I make it traditionally)
•     1 large egg, lightly beaten (or two egg whites
•     1 3/4 cups Evaporated 1% Milk or 1% Lactaid Milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Whisk together flour, honey, salt, baking soda in a large bowl:

Using a whisk, lightly work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in the currants or raisins (if using them).

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture (your dry ingredients). Beat your egg, then add your milk and whisk together. Add beaten egg and milk to well and fold in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir.

Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in a little more flour. Do not over-knead!

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, knead lightly, and shape into a round loaf. Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy (this is good).

You want to work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-knead, the bread will end up tough.

Score with an X (or a cross depending on how you look at it). Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased baking sheet (it will flatten out a bit).

Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 45-50 minutes. Check to see if done by inserting a long, thin skewer into the center of the top of the loaf. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

Hint 1: If the top is getting too dark while baking, tent the bread with some aluminum foil for half of the baking time.

Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Gluten Free Option

This recipe comes from Elana’s Pantry- elanaspantry.com (with modifications by me)