Irish soda bread.

James Beard's Irish soda bread via Meghan Gourley at Mark Bittman's blog: http://markbittman.com/irish-soda-bread

Ireland's Famous Bread from Beard on Food

Time: About 45 minutes

Makes: One round loaf

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 “very level” teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

Butter for greasing

Optional: 1/2 cup raisins or currants and 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

Heat the oven to 375 deg F.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir in the buttermilk, one half cup at a time, until the dough is soft but sticky. (I used the entire 2 cups.)

Lightly flour a work surface and knead the dough for a minute or two.

Shape the dough into a round ball and place it on a buttered baking sheet; cut a large cross in the top with a sharp knife.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the outside is brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. Serve immediately or store for up to a few days.

Notes: The salt is coarse or Kosher salt, use half as much table salt. My oven needed about 50 minutes to bake. I used Morton's Kosher salt. Dana thought it was a little salty! It is a bit saltier than I'm used to but not excessively so. You could probably reduce the salt by 1/3 to make it closer to "normal".  See salt equivalence.