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• This week's recipes: Sugar waffles, Steamed Whole Fish, Eggs on Cocotte with Fresh Shrimp, and several readers share their recipes for Irish Soda Bread.

Contrary to what you might expect from the name, this bread does not use any orange soda. It is based on soda bread, or Irish soda bread, which is leavened with a combination of buttermilk and baking soda. This use of a chemical leavener allows the bread to be prepared quickly, as opposed to a time-consuming yeast-raised bread. From Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, this Orange Soda Bread gets its flavor from a generous amount of orange zest that is added to a fairly standard soda bread recipe, but it offers a surprising crunch from the sesame seeds that Haalo included in the dough. The bread is not overly sweet, so it would be best served alongside breakfast or as a snack, perhaps with butter and jam, in the mid-morning.

For variations, you could switch the orange zest with lemon zest and use poppy seeds instead of sesame. Raisins are a typical inclusion in soda breads, so you could add in a small amount of just about any dried fruit, as well.

In the early and mid 1800’s, rural Ireland did not have a strong tradition of yeast bread making. Baking was done in the home and, in addition to having limited supplies, time was often at a premium. The use of baking soda as a leavening agent was quick, effective and it produced a much more consistent result than yeast did. It caught on quickly and made soda breads a staple of the Irish diet until commercial bread production began in earnest, though it is still popular in Ireland and many other parts of the world.

The original soda breads contained nothing more than flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt. The buttermilk was leftover from the butter making process and the bread was almost always served with freshly churned butter. Today, the breads often contain additional ingredients, like sugar, butter, currants or caraway seeds to enhance the flavor of the bread. Soda bread is heartier than most yeast breads and pairs very well with soups, stews and meat dishes. It also makes outstanding toast. For an irish soda bread recipe, click here.

 [Photo by Nicole Weston]