I made Ina Garten's fruity Irish soda bread recipe, and it's the perfect treat for St. Patrick's Day

The original concoction of yeastless bread was created by Native Americans. It was then replicated and interpreted in the 1830s when baking soda was introduced to Ireland.

Soda bread became a staple for Irish people when the Great Famine hit the country in 1845, according to Britannica. It used local, inexpensive ingredients (soft wheat flour, salt, sour milk, and baking soda) and was easy to bake.

Today, around the world and especially in the US, Irish soda bread is treated as a celebratory food to be eaten near St. Patrick's Day. But in Ireland, there are now countless household interpretations that are enjoyed year-round with dinner or a cup of tea.

Chef and host of the Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa," Ina Garten has her own rendition of the classic loaf. In addition to the core four ingredients of baking soda, all-purpose flour, Kosher salt, and buttermilk, she incorporates dried currants and orange zest. Both of these fruity and tangy ingredients are popular additions for many home cooks and bakeries.

Some sugar, unsalted butter, and an egg also help complete Garten's recipe. These are simple ingredients that most of us have in our pantries and refrigerators.

In addition to preheating my oven to 375 degrees, I grabbed the bowl from my KitchenAid electric mixer and started to combine the dry ingredients: 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1.5 teaspoons of Kosher salt, and just 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Perhaps an amateur thought, I questioned how the dough would rise without any yeast. I did some more research and found that the whole point of Irish soda bread is that the baking soda acts as the leavening agent instead of yeast.

I cut my halved stick of butter into five even segments before dividing each into four, leaving me with some cute butter cubes.

Following Garten's directions, I added the butter to the dry mixture and started to mix it with a paddle attachment at the lowest speed my mixer offered. I kept it going for about five minutes, occasionally sweeping the sides of the bowl clean with a spatula to ensure everything was mixing evenly.

Once I could tell the butter was blended in, I turned off the mixer.

While my dry ingredients and butter were mixing, I prepared and combined the recipe's wet ingredients.

I beat one extra-large egg with a fork before adding 1.75 cups of cold buttermilk to it. Buttermilk is the common replacement today for the original "sour milk."

It was my first time working with it, and I was surprised by how thick it was. I'd say it's comparable to condensed milk or a custard.

After mixing that all together, I zested about half of an orange to fill up a tablespoon, and combined that into the wet batter, as well.

Next, I turned the mixer back on to a slow speed before pouring the bowl of batter into the dry ingredients. I immediately started making a mess and realized I should've combined the mixture in a large measuring cup or something else with a spout for easy pouring.

Since I didn't do that, I opted to spoon in the batter, which was much cleaner and easier. I then let the mixer run for a few more minutes to combine everything. The dough started forming and looked shinier.

As that mixed, it was time for what I believed to be the star of the show: dried currants. The only issue was that I couldn't find dried currants anywhere! As an alternative, I opted to use raisins.

The difference between currants and raisins is slight, but raisins are soft, sweet, and juicy while currants use a grape variety that give them an intense, sweet, and tangy taste, according to Healthline.

As Garten directed, I added 1 extra tablespoon of flour to the raisins and combined those until they were completely coated.

While my dough was mixing, I threw in handfuls of raisins at a time. They dotted the wet dough evenly throughout. The aromas from the raisins and orange zest brought me some serious serotonin.

At first the mixture was very stringy and stretchy because the gluten was building. After five minutes, though, it smoothed out and was ready for the next step.

I grabbed a wooden board and generously coated it with flour so that the dough wouldn't stick to it.

Taking the dough out of the mixing bowl was a little difficult because it was pretty heavy and wet. Once I got the dough onto the board, it was time to knead it. I grabbed the end of the dough furthest from me and pulled it away before moving up and backwards. I placed it into the middle of the dough pile, using the heels of my hands to press it in firmly. I repeated this motion about 10 times until it was smoothly combined.

The dough pretty much shaped itself into the desired round loaf shape.

I prepared a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper for my loaf to bake on. Garten scores an X shape on the top of her dough with a knife, so I followed suit.

This "cross" is a classic Southern Irish decorating method, linked to suspicions and incorporated to help ward off evil, according to Trafalgar.

With my oven set at 375 degrees, I was ready to bake my first-ever Irish soda bread. The recipe calls to cook it for 45 to 55 minutes.

At the 45-minute-mark, I checked on it. It had significantly risen, which impressed me. It was still quite pale though and when I stuck in a toothpick, it came out slightly wet, so I kept it in the oven for another 10 minutes.

I was astounded by how beautiful the rustic-looking crisp loaf was, including the imperfectly perfect cracked top from the cross I had scored.

Garten said if I knocked on the bread, it should sound hollow, and it did. I placed the loaf on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes to rest. The recipe says it can be served warm or at room temperature.

I was so excited to cut open the loaf and eat it. Inside was a pale, dense dough with raisins evenly distributed throughout.

When I bit into the warm bread, I immediately tasted the orange zest. You know those spectacular foods that reach the back of your mouth and make you salivate? This was one of those.

The raisins were also very juicy. I'm not sure if dried currants would've made a big difference, but I was happy with the result regardless.

The crust was crisp, the inside was thick but not dry, and there were so many layers of flavors. Overall, the bread had a subtle sweet taste with some tang from the fruits.

I then added some butter, which quickly melted into the bread, and it was the most perfect treat. I'll be making Ina Garten's Irish soda bread recipe again, even if it's not St. Patrick's Day.