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.
It appears everyone has their favorite Irish soda bread recipe. Some with caraway seeds, some with raisins, some with both, some with neither.
Easy White Soda Bread
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.
Irish Soda Bread With Buttermilk And Raisins
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.
Grandma's Irish Soda Bread
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.
Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread With Bulgur Recipe
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.
*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.
Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread
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.Searching for the best Irish soda bread recipe? Look no further! This authentic recipe comes straight from Ireland. So easy to make with just 4 ingredients.
Today’s is super-special, because as you may know, I just returned from a fabulous trip to Ireland, where I learned all about Irish baking, straight from the experts! I’m so thrilled to be sharing this authentic Irish soda bread recipe with you!
Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe
If you are looking for some really fun St. Patty’s Day foods, be sure to check out my Shamrock Shake Macarons, Pot of Gold Cupcakes, and Rainbow Fruity Pebble Cake.
I learned it at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, Ireland. I have always wanted to go there, so it was truly a “pinch me” kind of moment! It really felt like a dream come true to learn real Irish baking from none other than Darina Allen herself. Such an incredible privilege!
She taught us that soda bread is so easy to make from just 4 simple ingredients, and it comes together in just a few minutes. If you’re craving homemade bread but you don’t have time for a big fuss, this is the recipe for you!
Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe
You can jazz it up with interesting add-ins if you’d like (more on that later), but as it is it makes a perfect loaf that you’ll love to eat (with real Irish butter!) for breakfast or as an appetizer or side dish to your meal.
It’s much faster than most other bread recipes, because it does not contain any yeast. Soda bread is leavened with just baking soda, so you don’t have to wait a long time for it to rise.
You can whip up this homemade bread in less than an hour and have warm, freshly baked bread on the dinner table for your family in no time at all.
Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Next, you’re going to add in buttermilk. The exact amount can vary based on the humidity in your kitchen on any given day, so you’ll want to start with a smaller amount and work your way up as needed.
I really think there isn’t any good substitute for real buttermilk in this recipe. If you search around, you’ll see that it’s possible to sour your own milk by adding lemon juice or white vinegar to regular milk, but in my experience that type of substitute only works well when there are lots of other ingredients (like in chocolate cake, for example). With a recipe as simple as this, where there are only 4 ingredients, I think the buttermilk takes on a lot more importance.
It’s definitely worth seeking out real buttermilk if you want to make this, and if you can get your hands on whole milk buttermilk, by all means do it. It’s thicker and richer tasting, and I can find it easily in the dairy section of my regular local supermarket.
The Best Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Once you’ve added about 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk, begin mixing the dough with your clean hands. This is the way we were taught by the chefs at Ballymaloe! They taught us to make a “claw” with our fingers and mix the dough gently by hand.
If your dough seems really dry, add more buttermilk, a little at a time, until it gathers into a big, sticky ball.
Flour the blade of your knife, and score the bread in a criss-cross pattern. This is traditional for Irish soda bread! It helps the loaf to rise evenly in the oven.
Irish Soda Bread {with 4 Simple Variations}
Last but not least, use the tip of your knife to puncture a slit in each of the 4 quarters. This is so important! My teacher at Ballymaloe explained that you have to do this in order to let the faeries out!
Bake the bread at a very high temperature initially (450 degrees F; this is not a typo!), then turn the oven down and finish baking at a slightly lower temp. This will really help the bread to rise nice and fluffy!
You’ll know your soda bread is done baking when it’s golden and crusty, and it makes a hollow sound when you tap it with the tips of your fingers.
Easy No Knead Irish Soda Bread
But it can also be baked with a few handfuls of just about any kind of mix-in you can imagine! Here are a few ideas:
There’s lots of specific info in the recipe card below, but I can tell you that it is not gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, or vegan.
While this bread can certainly be made a few days ahead, you probably won’t need to do that since it’s so quick to make.
Irish Soda Bread Recipe From Ireland: Easy & So Authentic! Baking A Moment
But if you’re really pinched for time, it will keep for about 4 to 5 days at
0 Komentar