Ellie Mae's Not-so-irish Soda Bread

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 4 cups unsifted flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/3 cup butter or 1/3 cup margarine
• 2 cups dark seedless raisins
• 1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or 1 1/2 cups sour milk
• 1 egg, beaten

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• 2 you'll need two 8-inch round greased cake pans.
• 3 blend together in a large bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cardamom.
• 4 cut in butter or margarine until mixture resembles coarse meal. a pastry cutter works really well for this.
• 5 add raisins, caraway seeds, milk and egg and stir until blended. dough will be stiff.
• 6 turn out dough from bowl and knead on floured board or counter for about one minute, until smooth.
• 7 divide dough into two balls. i weigh the dough on my kitchen scale to get two loaves of equal weight/size.
• 8 place in two greased 8-inch round cake pans. flatten dough to fill pans. cut a cross in top of each loaf.
• 9 bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.