Try, Try Again {Irish Soda Bread}

My mom is one of the main reasons I come back to this blog. She always encouraged me to get back to it, she enjoyed reading my posts. I have been unsuccessfully attempting her Irish Soda Bread recipe for years. YEARS. It is always a fail despite following the recipe exactly, right down to the well greased cast iron pan.

It is always a fail. An epic fail. I had given up attempting this recipe. Lucky for me in years past I always got a loaf from my mom at St. Patrick’s day. I nearly forgot I had a copy of the recipe hand written by my mom. What a find!

The last loaf of this Irish Soda Bread my mom made me was delicious, as always, I cut off a portion and put it in the freezer. It lived there for quite some time, long enough that on freezer clean out chore I threw it away. My mom died shortly thereafter. Yearly Timehop shares with me a picture of a glorious slice of this bread and I think there is not much I wouldn’t do for another slice of my mom’s Irish Soda Bread. Never in my life had I contemplated mourning the loss of a loved in this manner.

Hitting the one-year anniversary of the pandemic reminded me just how much this year has taken from people. We have been fortunate to be minimally impacted, but yet still impacted. A lack of control over aspects of life manifested itself in making me determined to tackle this recipe again.

I can’t say I nailed it, but I got pretty close. Closer than ever before, so that is something.

The sweetness from the raisins combined with the flavor of the caraway makes my mouth so happy.

I am still falling short on the overall result. It is lacking the density from when my mom made it.

Despite that I will take this as a win. Irish Soda Bread with a nice smear of soft butter. Come on, this is surely winning! I’ll take this as heavenly intervention – with a hint of ‘there is always have more to learn’. Happy Birthday to the Polish lady who made the best damn Irish Soda Bread in the land.