Bread, Hope and Holding On
The world feels like it’s falling apart, so I’m going to make bread. It’s the only thing I have the energy for today, and it feels like an act of hope in what has been a sad and dreary week.
This is my mother-in-law’s Irish soda bread recipe, cherished by our family and by my husband’s extended family. She made it for holidays and birthdays, for sick days and family celebrations, and whenever she sensed someone needed a pick-me-up. She’d wrap the loaf in tin foil and deliver it with a large tub of butter—fully expecting, and encouraging, the recipient to use it liberally. This bread means a lot to my family. Both my children make it and for us, it represents love and family. I love it when we bake this bread, because it makes our home smell so cozy and pleasant. It’s a dopamine hit, for sure.
My mother-in-law is a beautiful person: kind, patient, funny, generous. She’s been slipping away from us slowly as age and cognitive decline take their toll, but she’s still the sweet person she’s always been. And scrappy. My mother-in-law is scrappy. I could stand to be more like her.
As I make this bread, I’ll think about the things that matter to me and that I think the world needs more of. Humanity. Character. Resilience. Generosity. Grace.
And I’ll think about hope.
The kind that arrives wrapped in foil, carried by a scrappy woman, with bread in one hand and butter in the other.
Irish Soda Bread
Dry ingredients
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tspn salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 tspn baking soda
3 “scant” tsps baking powder
Sift four, salt and sugar together. Into the dry mixture add 1 cup raisins and 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds. Mix 1 cup of sour cream with 1 cup of milk. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and mix (but do not mix too much!). This mixture will be very gluey and sticky. Grease a cast iron skillet (or a pie dish will do) with butter. Form ingredients into a round loaf and turn into the skillet or dish. Cut a “cross” into the top with a knife, about 1/4 inch deep. Brush lightly with milk. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.
Thank you for sharing both the sentiments AND the recipe. I suspect many of us feel exactly as you do.
One of the "wintering" activities I planned to do was bake bread. I initially thought it involved a lot of work and avoided trying it. Once I found out how easy some of the recipes are (a few simple ingredients, no kneading or bread machines necessary), I decided to try some of them. I'll add this one to my list and remember to stay scrappy and hopeful that the bread, as well as our collective futures, turn out better than we could've imagined.
Baking bread is a good antidote for difficult times, and a good reminder to make things that can feed people's bodies or their souls.