Irish Sourdough

Name: Irish Sourdough Raisin Bread
Prep time: 180 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 225 min
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast; 1 cup warm water; 1 cup sourdough starter; 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil; 1/3 cup raisins

Raisin Bread

Irish Sourdough Raisin Bread is a traditional Irish bread with a crisp, chewy crust that is mostly savory with just a hint of sweet. The raisins plump nicely in the dough while baking forming sweet chewy nuggets throughout the bread. Delicious with a lovely spread of creamy Irish butter!

Look at this beautiful airy crumb! The combination of sweet raisins and savory tangy sourdough is really amazing. It makes a great addition to any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner and it's one of the easiest harvest style breads I've ever made.

How to make Irish Sourdough Raisin Bread:

After a brief blending of the dry ingredients, I add the sourdough starter all at once. I like to use a nice bubbly freshly fed starter in this recipe.

Start the mixer running on low after adding the starter and slowly drizzle in the warm water up to one cup. If the dough has not come together add one tablespoon of warm water at a time, allowing time for the added water to fully mix in, until the dough comes away from the sides of the mixing bowl. I use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl encouraging the dough to come together. Watch the video below to see how this works.

Once your dough has come together, continue to mix for 7 more minutes on low. The dough should be heavy and tacky.

Prepare freshly fed sourdough starter that is nice and bubbly..

Add all of the dry ingredients to a stand mixer.

mix the dry ingredients briefly then add the starter.

After slowly adding the warm water and mixing on low for 7 minutes the dough should be tacky and glutenous.

Prepare a large bowl with 1 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil.

Scatter a bench board with a few tablespoons of flour for kneading.

Scrape the dough from the mixer bowl onto the prepared board.

Knead the dough 4-5 times by folding it back and forth on itself then shape into a ball.

Place the ball into the large bowl and roll it in the oil until it's covered.

Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm area for 60-90 minutes or until doubled.

Here is a video illustrating the formation of the dough. Patience is the key, don't add too much water to quickly. Begin timing the 7 minutes of mixing (kneading) after the dough comes together completely like at the end of this short video.

After forming the dough, scrape it onto a floured board and knead 4-5 times before forming a ball. Place the ball into a bowl with 1 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and roll it until all sides are lightly coated with the oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled.

(60-90 minutes)

After the dough has risen, move the dough onto a floured board, carefully knead 4-5 times again and reform into a ball. Take care to keep as much air in the dough as you can by not pressing too firmly.

Place the ball of dough into a well floured banneton or alternatively, into a bowl lined with a thin cotton towel that has been well floured.

Cover with the banneton cover or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with oil and allow the dough to rise once more in a warm place until doubled (45-60 minutes)

Begin heating a Dutch oven with the lid on inside of your oven to 450 degrees.

When the dough is ready you should leave a small dent in the dough if you poke it with your finger tip. If it springs back, let it rise a bit longer.

Roll the dough out onto a floured board and knead gently 4-5 times taking care not to press too much of the air out of the dough.

Gently fold the dough in half imagining that you are catching air bubbles between the halves.

Repeat without pressing too much. Try to keep the air bubbles inside.

Place the dough into a well floured banneton.

Cover and let rise for another 60 minutes or so.

When the dough has risen, gently roll the dough out of the banneton onto a piece of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with polenta, cornmeal or semolina flour and score with a lame or sharp knife.

This dough is very easy to handle so score firmly and decisively. You should get great results.

I remove the Dutch Oven from the oven before removing the bread from the banneton so that it's ready and waiting to receive the newly formed loaf as soon as it's scored.