Irish soda bread (p. 629) and Crusty soft-center spoon bread (p. 634)

Most of you know my fear of baking bread at high-altitude. But that worry doesn't apply to quick-breads that don't include yeast, like Irish soda bread (p. 629). I had never had Irish soda bread before, so I had no idea at all what to expect.

I mixed flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt:



In another bowl (or, in this case, a measuring cup) I melted butter and added buttermilk and an egg (less dirty dishes!):



I will say, I differed from the recipe enough that some of you might not consider this Irish soda bread. I don't like raisins and I refused to add them. So you will just have to imagine a cup of raisins in these pictures.

I added the butter mixture to the flour mixture and shaped it in to a mound on a pizza pan:



Apparently you can use a loaf pan but the random mound seemed more interesting. I slashed an x on top and popped it in to the oven:



Delicious. This was super good. It was like a giant biscuit. Josh was in love with it. This raisin-free Irish soda bread is a perfect compliment to any meal. Make sure not to overmix the dough! It should not be kneaded.

I also decided to make Crusty soft-center spoon bread (p. 634). I had been hearing a lot of spoon bread talk on Twitter and had no idea what to expect. Why would you serve bread with a spoon?

I mixed yellow cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in one bowl and an egg and milk in another:



I melted butter in the bottom of my pan and poured in the batter. I then poured milk over the top (what?):



And popped it in the oven:



Strange. The milk mostly sank in. This was much closer to polenta than to cornbread but it was tasty. The spoon bread was rich and smooth. I did not serve it using a spoon.

Random facts:

• Wikipedia agrees with me that spoonbread isn't really a bread (they consider it more of a savory pudding)
• Soda bread is such named because it includes baking soda rather than yeast (Wikipedia)

I'm sure there are more interesting facts about these two items, I just don't want to find them. Feel free to add!