Best Soda Bread Recipe

This is an easy Irish soda bread recipe with a 5-minute preparation and no kneading skills required! This yeast-free dough is perfect for beginner bakers and busy families!

Soda bread (Irish: arán sóide) is a traditional Irish bread. The dough for this bread doesn’t use yeast, but bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) which is the rising agent here.

Grandma's

No mixer and no proofing are needed to make a loaf of this brown soda bread. It’s so easy that it makes a great baking project for kids as well.

Easy Homemade Irish Soda Bread Recipe

It is a perfect choice for those who want to try and make homemade bread but are put off by the long process that needs to be followed for yeast based breads. This Irish soda bread is quick to make and tastes amazing!

We love this brown soda bread lightly toasted with butter and homemade preserves (Low Sugar Strawberry Jam is our favorite as well as Mixed Berry Jam).

But because it is not sweet, it goes also well with creamy soups like Zucchini Soup or Potato Leek Soup (which is so easy to make in a pressure cooker!).

Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe With Raisins

Wholemeal and all-purpose flour are combined with salt and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. I have a 4.25-quart (4-liter) Mason Cash Bowl (see the link below) that I love for making Irish brown soda bread.

It’s wide enough so you can form a dough easily by hands, without having to transfer it onto a worktop. Now that being said, if you end up with a softer dough, it will be easier to shape it into a loaf on a worktop rather than in a bowl.

Now, give all those 4 ingredients a good stir before you add buttermilk. Then, all you have to do is mix everything – start with a wooden spoon and finish it off with your hands.

Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe + Tips For The Perfect Loaf!

You don’t need to knead it. You want to shape it into a loaf. Then, place it onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and brush the soda bread loaf with egg wash.

Baking should not take long – only about 30 minutes so you can easily make a loaf of this Irish soda bread on a weeknight.

If you like this Irish brown soda bread recipe, you might also like other Irish Recipes on our blog like Full Irish Breakfast or Irish Colcannon.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Note: This Irish Brown Soda Bread is an old post that has been updated with new photos and detailed instructions with lots of useful tips.Quick and easy, this Irish soda bread recipe is a classic. Our version is made with flour, baking soda, buttermilk, raisins, egg, and a touch of sugar and salt. Don’t let the simplicity fool you — it’s a real keeper and takes less than 45 minutes.

Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

Irish

It appears everyone has their favorite Irish soda bread recipe. Some with caraway seeds, some with raisins, some with both, some with neither.

Lyons Dooley Irish Soda Bread » My Curated Tastes

The essential ingredients in traditional Irish soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The acid in buttermilk reacts with the base of the baking soda to provide the bread's leavening. This leavening from buttermilk and baking soda is what gives the bread its name: soda bread.

This soda bread is a slightly fancied up Americanized version of the Irish classic, with a little butter, sugar, an egg, and some currants or raisins added to the base. You can bake it in a cast iron frying pan (now that's traditional!) or on a regular baking sheet.

You can also make a simpler version without eggs or currants, with some caraway seeds, or you could turn your soda bread dough into biscuits.

The Best Classic Irish Soda Bread

Soda bread dries out quickly so it really is only good for a day or two. It is best eaten freshly baked and warm or toasted. Keep it wrapped in plastic wrap or foil.

That said, you can make it ahead and freeze it (let it cool to room temperature first). Wrap it tightly first in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. It will last up to 2 months frozen.

-

Traditionally, bread in Ireland was made in a skillet because the wheat that grew there was what's called soft wheat, which contained less gluten than its counterparts in America. The domestic Irish wheat didn't interact well with yeast and did not rise very well.

St Patrick's Day Feast: Soda Bread, Ulster Fry & Salt Beef With Champ

Hence, the introduction of baking soda as a leavening agent, which reacts with the buttermilk to form small carbon dioxide bubbles, approximating the chemical reaction of yeast.

What we consider traditional Irish bread came about because of the Native Americans, who used a sort of wood ash as a leavening agent to make bread without yeast. This method of making bread was introduced to Ireland in the 1830s.

Different types of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland, but all of them are pretty simple, everyday breads. They were found in every household to mop up stews or to enjoy with a cup of tea. The Northern Irish divide their dough into 4 triangles, while the Southerners made theirs round with a cross shape on top. Here in America, we like to put in add-ins like caraway seeds, currants, raisins, or honey. Modern Irish soda breads might contain nuts, orange zest, or even Guinness.

How To Make Bread Without Yeast

There are only a few ingredients in this soda bread recipe, so it's best if made with real buttermilk. However, there are a few buttermilk substitutions that work well and will still react with the baking soda to make the bread rise. Kefir works especially well, or you can thin yogurt to the consistency of buttermilk using plain milk.

You can also acidify milk with lemon juice or white vinegar. Add 2 scant tablespoons to a measuring cup and top with whole milk to make 1 3/4 cups total. Stir and let sit for a few minutes until the mixture curdles, then proceed with the recipe as written.

Traditional

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2, 000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Original Irish Soda Bread Recipe From Ireland

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.This Irish soda bread is a light and tender loaf studded with plenty of raisins and baked to golden brown perfection. A super easy quick bread recipe that pairs well with so many different main course options!

When I’m looking for a hearty bread to go alongside a chicken stew or a prime rib roast, I often turn to this simple yet satisfying Irish soda bread. It has the perfect blend of sweet and savory flavors.

Grandma's Irish Soda Bread

Whether it’s St. Patrick’s Day or just any old weeknight during the cold weather months, you can often find me whipping up a loaf of Irish soda bread. I love when it bakes up with that perfect texture that just calls out for butter and jam! There’s no kneading, no yeast, no rising, and you can have fresh, hot bread on your table in no time!

This recipe starts with flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, which are stirred together with a spoon or a whisk in a large bowl. Cubes of cold butter are cut into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. The next step is to stir in a healthy amount of raisins for a touch of sweetness. Finally, add buttermilk and egg and stir until a stiff dough forms. The dough gets shaped into a round, then goes into a pan or cast iron skillet. Score the top of the bread with a sharp knife, then bake it until it has a golden brown crust. Serve it with butter and jam or enjoy it with hearty soups or stews.

Traditional

Soda bread is best the same day you bake it, but it stays fresh for up to 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container. It can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Freeze the bread in individual slices or as a whole loaf. Let the bread thaw at room temperature, then serve. You can also reheat it in a toaster, an oven or with a few seconds in a microwave to get that fresh baked taste!

Quick Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Soda bread is a quick bread that always contains four basic ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Other ingredients