Rob and Hallie

If this bread isn’t on the table, it isn’t St. Patrick’s Day dinner.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ to 1 cup currants or golden raisins (or both)
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and generously butter an 8- to 9-inch round pan.

Stir dry ingredients together, then add currants. Add milk until mix resembles biscuit dough. Pour into buttered pan, and immediately* bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

*The only leavening in this bread is baking soda and baking powder, which are activated as soon as they hit the moisture in the dough. So if you wait before popping it into the oven, the rising will be over too quickly and the bread will deflate while it bakes. It will still look and taste okay, but it will be denser and heavier, with a tighter structure.