Pioneer Spotted Dog

St. Patrick's Day is coming up!

It makes me think of my ancestry.  My Grandmother, Elizabeth was 1/2 American Indian, and 1/2 Irish and lived in Oklahoma.  What a great combination huh?  My Great Grandmother Addie McCleary was the Irish member of the family.  

Digging through my mom's recipes again, I came across an old hand written recipe for a version of Irish Soda Bread.  This is an Irish bread that typically had only a few ingredients, flour, soda, buttermilk, or sour milk.  That's it.  But being Irish-American, things changed along the way.  Food was adapted to what was on hand.  Farmers used what was available to them, or what could be bought.  This version is actually called Spotted Dog.  A little more sweet than the original and has the addition of fruit.  I used currants, although the recipe called for raisins.  I thought they look really cute in the bread, and lend a nice sweetness.  

So in ode to my Irish ancestry I bring to you this old recipe....Pioneer Spotted Dog.  (Oklahoma in origin)

We couldn't keep our hands off this bread!  It's that good.  Make a batch or two and see if your family can resist.

Some step by step pics...

 

 

The end result....wow...look at this bread!

Enjoy and have a happy St. Patrick's Day!



Pioneer Spotted Dog

makes 1 loaf

3 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup  sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

½ cup cold butter

1 1/3 cups buttermilk or sour milk

3/4 cup currants

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender until it looks like little crumbles.  Add buttermilk and currants; stir just until moistened.

Knead dough on a board until dough forms.  Shape bread loaf.  Should be round and about  2 ½ inches thick. Place on a greased baking sheet (I used cooking spray).  Cut an X in the dough and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar if desired. 

Bake for 50-55 min.  Allow to cool and cut into wedges. Note:  Bread will lasts 2-3 days stored a room temperature.