Traditional Irish Soda Bread is a type of quick bread that uses baking soda instead of yeast as a leavening agent. The ingredients used to make traditional Irish Soda Bread are flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. You can also add raisins, egg, butter, or nuts, but I prefer it plain…..and served along side a bowl of Guinness Pot Roast…..
Or Beef Stew! In Ireland, Irish Soda Bread is typically made with a soft wheat flour, like a cake or pastry flour. In Lisa’s crazy world, it gets made with whatever flour is on hand. 😉
In fact, I ran out of all-purpose flour. How is that even possible? So this time around, I made this loaf with 1 cup of all-purpose, 2 cups of bread flour, and 1 cup of white whole wheat…..and it didn’t rise anywhere near as much as it should have!!
But that did not stop me from slicing it up and slathering it with softened butter…..YUM!!! Due to several injuries to my hands over the years, I also cheated and used my stand mixer. 😉
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner and set aside.
Place flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, and whisk to combine…..
Add the buttermilk…..
and stir to combine. Traditionally this would be done with a wooden spoon, and then your hands, but I used a dough hook…..
Just be careful to not overwork the dough. The dough should be very soft, but not soggy. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead and mold into an 8-inch circle…..
and place on prepared baking sheet. Cut a “cross” in the top of the dough to ward off evil spirits…..or to let the fairies out, whichever you prefer…..
Place in preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom…..
Place on a wire rack to cool slightly, and serve warm.
The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Do to a severe lactose intolerance, I use coconut milk {box} mixed with apple cider vinegar to create my own buttermilk…..
Which also makes my bread a bit more dense than usual, but it doesn’t make me sick so that’s a good trade off in my book. 😉
I already mentioned the Beef Stew…..
and Guinness Pot Roast {that both need new images}…..
but Irish Soda Bread would also be perfect served along side this delicious Irish Potato Leek Soup…..
Have I ever mentioned that this is my favorite food holiday? Well it is, so there will be many more Irish recipes coming in the next couple of weeks!
Enjoy!!
Irish Soda Bread
Print recipe
| Serves | 1 loaf |
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
| Cook time | 30 minutes |
| Total time | 40 minutes |
| Meal type | Bread |
Ingredients
- 4 Cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 3/4 Cups buttermilk
Directions
| Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat liner, set aside. | |
| Place flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, whisk to combine. | |
| Pour in most of buttermilk, and stir to combine {or use a dough hook in a stand mixer}. | |
| Dough should be very soft, but not soggy. Add remaining buttermilk if too dry. | |
| Place on a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. | |
| Shape into an 8-inch circle and place on prepared baking sheet. | |
| Cut a cross in the top of loaf. | |
| Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. | |
| Place on wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm with softened butter. | |
Note
Combine 1 3/4 cups milk {or coconut milk} with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to make buttermilk.
This recipe will be partying at these link parties!
I actually love a dense bread so this looks especially delicious to me!
Thank you Cathy. It’s actually really good. 🙂
Wonderful and unique looking bread Lisa 🙂
I’ve never eaten Irish-soda bread and I would definitely looooooooooove to try!
Thank you so much Winnie. 🙂
Great post. I like to make Irish Soda bread, visiting Ireland I fell in love with it. Here in Portugal we don’t have buttermilk for hand, so I use the same vinegar method with regular milk. Depends on the occasion, but I love to add raisins to it sometimes. Ease quick and simple bread! Love it.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
I love soda bread — it’s the easiest way to enjoy homemade bread! Pinned. 🙂
I love homemade bread of any kind! Looks delish, Lisa!
Lovely! I’ve never made this before but I believe I’ll give it a try. Thanks!
Thank you so much Jennifer. 🙂
This looks so tasty, I love soda bread…. Definitely will be trying this, thanks for sharing.
Thank you Nadine, I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
Ooh. Just looking at this takes me back to family St. Patrick’s days….
That looks delicious…and with no raisins, or whatever they usually put in. I love it!!
How can I thank you for sharing this great recipe! I’m allergic to dairy so I’m definitely going to try this with the almond milk. It’s look so yummy and what a great idea to use whole wheat flour. Thanks again.
Hmm, I always thought that it is too difficult to make bread, however, it seems that it is not as difficult as it seems. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Kathie. One of my goals is to show everyone how simple bread is to make, even yeast breads. Good luck. 🙂