November 26 2004, 11:34 AM Hey, Aleecia!

I do not really have a set recipe for Irish Soda Bread. When I need to make it, I generally flail around for a recipe; it is simple stuff, and the recipes are generally very similar. Google is a help here, as is Jeff Smith. When I have these reminders in front of me, I reach deeply into memory and soul, and bring forth from my ancestry the honed skills of cookery I carry in every Irish fibre of my being. Well. Let us instead be more accurate, and say instead that I play the most dangerous game when baking: I wing it. No matter; it always seems to work out.

Here's what I did for the most recent batch. The thing itself is very simple. Into a bowl, put:

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

I will note here that this bread is an excellent way to get rid of milk that has been in the fridge long enough to get a little off. Don't use milk that is obviously toxic, of course. I like apple cider vinegar to add the acid because it doesn't introduce any heavy flavors, but most any vinegar will do. Should you select rice wine vinegar, add a splash more than called for. As an alternate ingredient, you can replace the milk and vinegar with 2 1/2 cups cultured buttermilk (which makes a different bread, but it also quite good).

Into a big, big bowl, dump the following (you do not need to care about sifting):

• 6 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup currants
• 1 tsp. ground caraway seed

Mix all that stuff up well with a wooden spoon. As to flour, you can use all-purpose just fine. That last batch I made was with high-test hard wheat flour, which works too. You can leave the currants and the caraway out, if you want to. That last batch used fennel instead of caraway, and I think that worked out okay. Etc.

Pour the wet stuff into the dry stuff, and quickly mix. Don't over mix; you don't need to. Instead, turn the mass out onto the counter and knead to a uniform dough (if you put currants in the stuff, you'll know you're good when the currants start trying to escape). Divide the dough in half, pat the halves into round, flattened mounds, and then let them rest under a towel for 10 minutes.

After resting, slash the tops of the loaves with a cross pattern with a sharp, sharp knife. Put loaves onto a baking stone in a very preheated 375 degree oven (if you don't have a baking stone, use an ungreased baking sheet). They'll be done in 40 minutes, or when they are golden brown.