Today my husband and I and fellow parent baked bread with 24 second graders at St Francis Solano School in preparation for their First Holy Communion.  It was a fun project because the kids were so eager to participate.  There was only one child who tasted the dough, and he didn’t do it twice!  I like getting kids into the kitchen.   They chatted while they cooked.  I got an earful about crushes – both on the baseball field and the boy-girl variety. The recipe I chose is a soda bread that my mom makes all the time and it’s delicious.  No kneading required, you can have this done from start to finish in under an hour!  Each of these loaves will feed a crowd – at least 10 people. It’s yummy toasted and lasts for several days.
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups wheat flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter (not chilled but not too soft)
2 cups buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 425 Farenheit
Whisk the dry ingredients, cut in the butter, add the buttermilk and mix it up until you feel the need to turn out and massage the dough till it sticks together in a ball.  Flatten it (the kids had fun pounding the dough at this point) to about 4 inches thick.  Put it on a baking sheet and in the oven for 40 minutes or so.  This is a dense bread, continues to cook for a while, so let it cool thoroughly before cutting into it.