Chilly afternoons in mid-March call for baking, and because it’s almost St. Patrick’s Day Irish Soda bread sounds about right. But rolls sounds like a better way to share, and cranberries are just the kind of tart sweetness I’m craving. The simplicity of this dough makes me question why I haven’t made this bread more often, since it requires no resting time, and bakes up quickly. The dough resembles a rough biscuit dough, but when I brought out my pastry blender it reminded me more of making pie dough. Oh, I want pie, I can’t wait for this summer pie. Oh, and I love curd, but since I only had marmalade on hand, I found it was necessary to add a dollop of this fruity sweetness to a warm crumbly roll. These Irish soda bread rolls would work well with a St. Patrick’s Day Whiskey Tasting atop each guest’s place setting.
Irish Soda Bread Rolls
Ingredients {Makes 18 rolls}
4 cups – All Purpose flour
1/4 cup – Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon – Salt
2 teaspoons – Baking Powder
2 tablespoons – Sesame Seeds
4 tablespoons – Unsalted Butter {cold and cubed}
2 cups – Cranberries
1 1/2 cups – Buttermilk
1 large – Egg {plus 1 yolk}
1 teaspoon – Baking Soda
1 tablespoon – Heavy Cream
Recipe {Adapted from Martha Stewart}
Preeat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and sesame seeds in a large bowl until combined. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, until the mixture appears like coarse meal, then stir in cranberries.
In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, whole egg, and baking soda until well combined. Pour the buttermilk into the flour mixture, and stir with a rubber spatula, until the liquid is absorbed and begins to hold together {slightly like rough biscuit dough}. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 16 equal pieces. With floured hands, roll each into a ball and place on the baking sheet in 3 rows of 6, making sure each roll is touching the surrounding ones.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and cream together and the rolls. With the tip of a paring knife, cut a 1/4-inch-deep X on the of each. Transfer to oven, and bake, rotating halfway through, until golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into center {40 minutes}. Remove from oven, transfering the baking sheet to a wire rack, and separate each roll . Cool to room temperature before serving with plenty of salted Irish butter or marmalade.
Sesame seeds and cranberries…your rolls are different and sound terrific. Happy to have discovered your blog.
Thank you 🙂 Yes, I wanted to make a few changes to the traditional recipe, and was quite delighted!