Monday, March 18, 2013

Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread


One thing about going gluten free...I miss this kind of thing.  Whatever the holiday, I make a dinner with the foods from that country, we put on the Pandora to that style of music, and chat about the theme over dinner.  How can I possibly do St. Patrick's Day Dinner without Irish Soda Bread, a pint of Guinness, or Guinness Chocolate Cake?  Last year I perfected my Irish Soda Bread recipe and now I couldn't even make it?  

Then I began to think...and those of you who know me know where that can lead, but it actually lead me to the Perfect Flour Blend from Namaste Foods. I bought it on a whim in case I ever needed to add a little flour to something as a thickener.  Well, turns out I could make my Irish Soda Bread recipe and just substitute this flour...cup for cup!  

I did make one error, I'm not going to lie.  I left it to tall.  In other words, I should have patted it down a little.  In hopes for a high rise-looking bread I left it more ball shaped instead of flattening it out.  It was still delicious, don't get me wrong, but when I cut into the middle it wasn't cooked through, so I put some foil on it and put it back in the oven.  Came out better, but boys are impatient for that bread!  So I sliced it like biscotti and cooked the last few pieces that way.  UM, YUM!  They should make Irish Soda Biscotti.  No joke!  Sometimes mistakes can be a good thing.
Here's what I served it with for our Irish feast:

 
Shepherds pie, mixed greens with blackberries and balsamic vinaigrette, and delicious GLUTEN FREE Irish soda bread.  This is actually my son Marcus' plate.  He insisted I take a shot of his.  From this angle it looks like he has a piece of bread bigger than his plate!  It's not.  But boy does he wish it was!  Enjoy!