Nana Miley's Irish Bread

Did you know I was Irish? Shocking, I know. The Italian in me is so overwhelming that the Irish hides most of the time. My great grandmother, Nana Miley, was a true Irish woman with a strong Irish brogue. She made a great Irish bread and passed the recipe on to my mom and my aunts. My mom even has her old beaten up bread loaf pan. The funny thing about this recipe is that Nana Miley guarded this recipe so closely she purposely left out ingredients in the recipe she passed on. Before she died my mom asked her about the Irish bread and wanted to know why it did not turn out like hers. Nana Miley's response was, "It's the eggs dear, I use three eggs." The recipe only called for one egg. The secret revealed.
My mom makes this bread every year around St. Patrick's Day. This year we made it together for the first time.

This my great grandmother's bread loaf pan she used to bake her Irish bread. How cool is that? I remember going to visit her after school and she would serve this bread with tea.

Irish Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp margarine

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

1 cup or more of raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour long loaf pan. Mix margarine and sugar together well and add dry ingredients. Add egg and milk. Once combined add raisins. For a good thick batter mix by wooden spoon. Bake for 3/4 hour until firm and golden brown. Once cooled brush top with mixture of sugar and milk.

My notes:

Nana Miley always used regular raisins but my mom likes to use golden raisins. Totally your choice.

I love how she says to bake for 3/4 hour instead of 45 minutes.

I used about a tablespoon of sugar mixed with 3 tablespoons of milk for brushing on the top. Use a pastry brush and generously slather it on. It will soak into the bread making it taste sweet and moist.

Here is my Mom, isn't she cute? I love her so much.
Here I am. I know, such a dork.

This bread is amazing toasted, and lightly buttered. Happy St. Patty's Day to you!