Irish Soda Bread - TWD: Baking with Julia

Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - Fourth Installment!  The recipe is Irish Soda Bread.

Yum!  I love this kind of bread.  I will definitely make this recipe again.

This was simplicity itself, after the Rugelach.  Four ingredients...ahhh.  I was a bit skeptical, since I have made many loaves of Irish Soda Bread, but never made a white loaf without any butter in it.  The two types that my grandmother used to make (and that I have continued to make) are "Brown" (kind of like this recipe, but with the Irish-style whole wheat flour plus wheat germ) and "White" (more of a cake-like bread with dried fruit and plenty of butter in the dough).  But, I should have know to trust in Marion Cunningham ;-)  I loved the result - it was plain, but not too plain. 

The dough seemed rather wet:

 but it baked up perfectly, and was cooked through.  It even kept pretty well into the next day (despite what the recipe said about it turning "as hard as the Blarney Stone" (cliche alert ;-). 

It was great spread with jam for a mid-morning snack with tea.