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Ingredients
4 - 4 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter (I prefer to use Irish butter), cut into small pieces
1 Large egg, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons lemon juice**
1 2/3 - 1 3/4 Cup milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425�F and spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.
Whisk together 4 cups flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal/crumbs. Place lemon juice in a 2 cup glass measuring cup and fill up to 1 3/4 mark with milk. Let milk sit for several minutes to sour. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and soured milk to the well and mix with a wooden spoon. Once the dough is too stiff to stir, dust hands with a little flour then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add in a little additional flour.
Shape dough into a round loaf. (The dough will be a little sticky and quite rugged looking.) But do not over-knead! Work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Rough and shaggy is good. Over-kneading will result in a tough loaf of bread.
Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, score the top of the dough about 1 1/2� deep in an "X" shape.
Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35 - 40 minutes.
Remove sheet from oven, let bread cool on the pan for 5 - 10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted.
Note
**Skip the lemon juice and milk and just use 1 3/4 cups buttermilk if you have it.