Five Out Of Five Soda Bread

I have to say right here, right now, that I've never personally made a soda bread that I liked. Never. Maybe I just like stuff that I don't have to make myself? That's a distinct possibility. After all, I like the soda bread that friends and family have made. But when I make it myself, it just doesn't happen for me. Ever.

Until now. This soda bread I like... in fact, this soda bread I love. I've only made it three times, but the recipe makes two loaves and we gave one away, so we've eaten five loaves of it (so far). Five out of five. We've had it by itself as a snack, alongside bowls of soup, and with mugs of strong black tea for breakfast (my favorite). I very nearly ate an entire loaf myself. It's that good.

The combination of flavors in this quick bread blur the line between savory and sweet… the caramel-y rich browned butter, sweet/hot freshly ground black pepper, piney/herbal fresh rosemary, a little saltiness from the baking soda, and some earthy sweetness from the honey... I'm making myself hungry.

Let me clarify something: there isn't actually any honey in the bread. It comes into play later, after the bread is baked, while it's still warm. Good honey drizzled over the top of a butter slathered chunk of warm soda bread [see photo above]… it's an absolute must... unless you're having it with soup.

Brown Butter & Rosemary Soda Bread
from Bon Appétit (Feb. 2006) by way of the lovely Baker By Nature blog

My Notes: I used fake buttermilk since I never seem to have buttermilk around. In this case I substituted the 1-3/4 cups of buttermilk with 1 Tblsp + 2 tsp of white vinegar in a measuring cup, topped with whole milk to make 1-3/4 cups total. Then I stirred it and let sit for 10 minutes before adding to the recipe. 

*****

I don't rate recipes on my blog. Something is either good enough to make again, or it's not. But if I did rate them on a scale, how would I rate this one? Need you ask?
Let's see: Poor, Fair, Average, Good... Great?
Most definitely great. In fact...
Five out of five.