Irish soda bread is a delicious, no yeast bread that's ready for the oven in about 5 minutes. Its dense yet soft, biscuit like texture and golden brown crust gives this bread a rustic flavor that just can't be beat.
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Quick and easy breads are a dream come true for a carb lover like me. In our house, we often enjoy Erich's no-knead Dutch oven bread or herb-infused ciabatta bread with dinner. There's just nothing like a crusty slice of bread slathered with butter, mopping up the sauce on your plate at the end of a meal.
Or my easy naan bread with some tandoori chicken.
And then some lemon blackberry bread or chocolate zucchini bread for dessert. That's a totally different type of bread, but yummmmmm......
Focus, Viana, focus! Sorry, I wandered off into bread dreamland there for a moment.
As I was saying, this Irish soda bread is made with no yeast and no special equipment. It's basically just stirring a few ingredients together and popping it in the oven.
🇮🇪 Is Irish soda bread actually Irish?
Irish soda bread is best known for being enjoyed each year on St. Patrick's Day. But is it actually Irish? Well...no.
This type of bread originates in North America and was invented by Native Americans, who ingeniously used what's called pearl ash or potash (a form of wood ash) in order to leaven their breads without the need for yeast. Nowadays, we use sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda (hence the name soda bread), but that wasn't available at the time.
Some time later, the Irish discovered this way of making bread and brought it back to their country. With its inexpensive ingredients and ability to be baked on a griddle or dutch oven over a fire, it was an instant hit in the time of the Irish famine. In the meantime, it's become one of the world's most famous quick breads, particularly around March 17th each year.
📋 Equipment
There are lots of different ways to bake Irish soda bread:
- Cast iron skillet - Soda bread was originally made on griddles, so this was as close as I could get to making it the real old fashioned way.
- Dutch oven - This would also work well, just leave the lid off.
- Cake pan or pie dish - A cake pan or pie dish would also work well in the oven.
- Baking sheet - You can also use a regular baking sheet.
🧾 Ingredients
- Buttermilk - This is one of those ingredients that can be tricky to find in the grocery store, but is necessary for the leavening process. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to make the bread rise. But no worries if you can't find it. There's a quick and easy trick to make your own version in just a few minutes. For every 1 cup of milk, stir in 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Wait about 10 minutes and it will just start to curdle. Voila, homemade buttermilk!
- Egg - One large egg is added to this recipe to add a bit of richness to the flavor.
- Sugar - Regular white granulated sugar works just fine.
- Baking soda - The ingredient that gives soda bread its name. Baking soda is the main leavening ingredient to make this quick bread. FYI, baking soda may be called bread soda in Ireland.
- Salt - Table salt will do the trick.
- Butter - I used unsalted butter in this recipe so that I could better control the amount of salt in this recipe. If you prefer to use salted butter instead, just reduce the amount of additional salt by about ¼ teaspoon.
- Raisins or dried currants (optional) - These are completely optional and were actually not used in the original, traditional soda bread...but I like the addition.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and their measurements.
🥣 Making the bread dough
Preheat oven to 400℉.
Whisk together the buttermilk and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
In the bowl with the flour mixture, cut in the cold, cubed butter using either your fingers, a fork, or a pastry cutter until it starts to resemble a coarse meal.
Note: There is a lot of flour used in making a soda bread, so you won't really get the texture of a coarse meal, but you will see it just a little bit. When that starts to happen and you can't find any more chunks of butter, it's ready for the next step.
Stir in raisins or dried currants, if using, until they're well coated in the flour mixture.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until it's so stiff you can't stir anymore.
Tip: It should be a sticky, shaggy dough. But if it's still a bit too wet, add a little more flour.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead just enough to make sure all ingredients are wet, and form into a round shape.
Tip: Do not over-knead the dough or you'll get a tough bread. The only purpose of slightly kneading for a minute is to make sure all the ingredients are evenly moistened and dispersed throughout the dough and get it into a round shape.
⏲️ Baking
Place the dough in your cast iron pan, dutch oven, baking sheet, or whatever you're going to use to bake it.
Cut a deep X into the top of the bread dough, about 1" to 1-½" deep. This will allow the heat of the oven to reach the center of the bread and also help it expand as it rises.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and then enjoy!
❓ FAQ
Cutting an X serves the dual purpose of allowing the heat of the oven to get to the center of the bread, as well as helping it expand as it rises.
But there is also a superstitious legend that states cutting a cross into the top of the bread wards off the devil and evil spirits.
Soda breads are delicious with butter, jam, or dunked into hearty soups and stews.
Irish soda bread will stay delicious, covered on the counter, for several days. You can also wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze for up to 2 months.
Do you love delicious recipes as much as we do? Check out a few more of our recipes now!
- Easy No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread Recipe
- No-Knead Herb Infused Ciabatta Bread
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Irish Coffee Chocolate Mousse
- Mint Chocolate Cheesecake
- Potato and Leek Soup - Potage Parmentier
- Cabbage and Sausage Casserole
- Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta - without cream!
- Easy Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
Did you make this Irish Soda Bread? Let us know in the comments below!
📝 Recipe
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 4 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup raisins or dried currants (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- Whisk together the buttermilk and egg.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
- In the bowl with the flour mixture, cut in the cold, cubed butter using either your fingers, a fork, or a pastry cutter until it starts to resemble a coarse meal.
- Stir in raisins or dried currants, if using, until they're well coated in the flour mixture.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until it's so stiff you can't stir anymore.
- Tip: It should be a sticky, shaggy dough. But if it's still a bit too wet, add a little more flour.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead just enough to make sure all ingredients are wet, and form into a round shape.
- Tip: Do not over-knead this bread or it will get tough. The only purpose of slight kneading for a minute is to make sure all the ingredients are evenly dispersed throughout the dough and get it into a round shape.
- Place the dough onto your cast iron pan, dutch oven, baking sheet, or whatever you're going to use to bake it.
- Cut a deep X into the top of the bread dough, about 1" to 1-½" deep. This will allow the heat of the oven reach the center of the bread, as well as help the bread expand as it rises.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool and then enjoy!
Notes
-
Equipment
There are lots of different ways to bake Irish soda bread:
- Cast iron skillet - Soda bread was originally made on griddles, so this was as close as I could get to making it the real old fashioned way.
- Dutch oven - This would also work well, just leave the lid off.
- Cake pan or pie dish - A cake pan or pie dish would also work well in the oven.
- Baking sheet - You can also use a regular baking sheet.
-
Ingredient substitutions
- Buttermilk: This is one of those ingredients that can be tricky to find in the grocery store, but is necessary for the leavening process. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to make the bread rise. But no worries if you can't find it. There's a quick and easy trick to make your own version in just a few minutes. For every 1 cup of milk, stir in 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Wait about 10 minutes and it will just start to curdle. Voila, homemade buttermilk!
- Butter: I used unsalted butter in this recipe so that I could better control the amount of salt in this recipe. If you prefer to use salted butter instead, just reduce the amount of additional salt by about ¼ teaspooon.
- Cutting in the butter: There is a lot of flour used in making a soda bread, so you won't really get the texture of a coarse meal, but you will see it just a little bit. When that starts to happen and you can't find any more chunks of butter, it's ready for the next step.
- Storage and freezing: Irish soda bread will stay delicious, covered on the counter, for several days. You can also wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze for up to 2 months.
- Suggestion: If you enjoy this bread, you're gonna love our no knead dutch oven bread!
Frances
This is lovely served with some butter. Thanks!
maplewoodroad
Wonderful, thank you! 🙂