A special Irish treat for St. Patty's day

I think this Irish Soda Bread qualifies as one of those old family recipes that get handed down through the generations. However, this one was handed down to me by a great lady named Mabel Johnson, whom I've known for years.

Mabel made this recipe for a church St. Patrick's Day function, and my husband loved it so much I asked her to share it with me.

Here it is:

Irish Soda Bread

Yields 1 loaf

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins (prefer golden)

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

teaspoon soda

1/2 to cup water

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, raisins and caraway seeds, and mix well.

Combine buttermilk and soda; add to dry ingredients, mixing well.

Add water gradually, stirring to form a soft dough.

Spoon into a greased 10-inch tube pan. (I used a regular bread pan since I didn't have a tube pan.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 55 minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

I imagine you'll want to know what my husband thought of my version of Irish Soda Bread.

Well, the top crust was quite crunchy (probably why the recipe calls for a tube pan), so he started by crunching out loud and making faces like his teeth were breaking. (He does that with everything I make.)

However, as I left in a huff he called out, "I like it, I like it!"

I knew he meant it when I heard him in the kitchen cutting another slice.