Pumpkin Irish Soda Bread

I’m not Irish but I can’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day this year because I finally get to share this amazing, spin-on-tradition, Pumpkin Irish Soda Bread with you!

Full disclosure: I first made this last January when nobody was thinking about things pumpkin or Irish, but I needed to use up a can of pumpkin purée. I remembered that we all enjoyed it and that I filed it away to share at a more seasonally appropriate time. Of course, as usually happens when I don’t blog something shortly after I make it, I promptly forgot about it 😘. But last week when the weather started to warm up, these old brain cells fired up again and I realized I had never shared it, so I made it again, because…well…I just had to taste it again, for writing purposes and…

I’m sorry—I owe you all a HUGE apology for holding this one back so long!! We are talking major YUM!! Guys, this pumpkin version of Irish soda bread is so, so lovely and I’m not even a huge pumpkin fan.

Not only does the pumpkin give the bread a pretty orange hue, but it also helps keep the crumb tender and moist!

And don’t be afraid that you won’t be able to find a can of pumpkin purée now—most major chains carry it all year long and if you’ve got a can leftover from Thanksgiving, this would be a perfect time to use it up before it expires!

You’ll love how quickly and easily this comes together too. There’s no yeast to fuss with, so no rising time to factor in. In a little over an hour, from start to finish, you can be enjoying a sweet, warm slice!

After you’ve combined all your dry ingredients and rubbed in the butter with your fingers, you make a well and pour in a combination of the pumpkin purée, buttermilk and egg yolk.

Then after the dough comes together, you divide it in half, pat into two rounds and place on a baking sheet.

The tops get brushed with a little milk and sprinkled with a generous amount of crunchy turbinado sugar right before you make that characteristic soda bread x-marks-the-spot-slash-across-the-top.

And happily this recipe rewards you with not one, but two gorgeously golden nubby loaves!!

Every bite is filled with sweet chewy raisins, crunchy walnuts and a subtle pumpkin flavor.

And that golden, chewy, sugary, crust!! So much to love!

It’s wonderful as is

Or toasted and buttered with some good Irish butter.

Irish or not, I just know you’re going to love this!☘️🍀☘️🍀

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Pumpkin Irish Soda Bread

Makes 2 round loaves

Prep Time: 20 minutes; Bake Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

• ½ cup fine yellow cornmeal

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature , cut into cubes

• 1 cup raisins

• ½ cup chopped walnuts

• 1 ⅔ buttermilk, well-shaken

• ¾ cup pumpkin purée

• 1 egg yolk

• A little bit of milk to glaze

• Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of bread before baking

The Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda. Add the butter cubes and use your fingers to toss it with the dry ingredients, then rub the butter into them, until there are no dry crumbly spots left. Add the raisins and nuts and use your hands to mix those in.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, pumpkin and egg yolk. Make a well in the dry mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Use a wooden spoon to mix it together until it’s well mixed and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Flour a board or your clean counter and scrape the dough out onto it. Divide it in half and flour your hands—the dough will be sticky. Gently knead each half, shape into a round and place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Brush each round with a little bit of milk and sprinkle the tops generously with the turbinado sugar. Use a sharp serrrated knife to cut a ½-inch deep cross in the center of each round to allow the steam to escape.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the loaves are golden brown and the bottoms make a hollow sound when you tap them gently. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve with Irish butter. Bread keeps for 2 days at room temperature, well wrapped and up to a week in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe from The Harvest Baker by Ken Haedrich. The only real change I made is to add turbinado sugar to the tops of the breads.