This Irish Soda Bread is so easy to make, yet tastes utterly divine. You’ll find it hard not to devour the whole loaf of this soft, flavourful quick bread!
Hiya guys, how are you all doing? Today I’m sharing my recipe for Irish Soda Bread. And let me tell you, it’s epic!
I’ve wanted to make Irish Soda Bread for so long as I’m here for any quick bread, but I never got round to it until recently. I’ve perfected this recipe and my goodness, it really is perfect. My husband and I devoured most of the loaf in two days.
Light, soft, not too sweet or too savoury, this Irish Soda Bread has the perfect tang and the perfect crunch on the outside.
You can make this bread with or without raisins, but I really think the raisins add an extra depth. They give you juicy bursts of sweetness and contrast perfectly with the bread.
I know some people find raisins very offensive though, so omit them if you want! Irish Soda Bread requires no yeast, no resting and no kneading. This means you can go from ingredients to eating warm bread in under an hour.
It uses bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and buttermilk as its leavening agents and they don’t require any resting.
I don’t know if you’re having this issue too, but we cannot find yeast in the shops for love, nor money. Hubby has been to about 10 shops over the last 3 weeks and can’t find it anywhere. Hence the reason I’ve been making breads that don’t require yeast!
I presume it’s because lots of people are home more and not just popping to the shops like normal, so everyone is making bread instead.
My mum has made a sourdough starter as she hasn’t been able to find yeast either. She text me the other day to tell me that keeping a sourdough starter alive was harder than keeping two babies alive hahaha!
Now, lets get into how to make this Irish Soda Bread…
First off, you place the dry ingredients into a large bowl; the flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and salt. Then it’s time to cut the butter into the flour until you have coarse breadcrumbs.
Add in the raisins, give it a quick stir, then add in the egg and buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to mix it into one lump of dough. Then tip it onto a baking tray, shape it, score it, bake it.
It really is as simple as that! If you’re anything like me, whenever things come out of the oven I risk burning my hands and mouth because I’m so desperate to try what I’ve baked. This time was no different, scorched fingers and all I cut myself a slice of this steaming hot Irish Soda Bread and fell in love with the texture and flavour.
This bread keeps well too, you can keep it in a Ziploc bag for a good 6-7 days… if it lasts that long. It’s great toasted, or at room temperature, with butter and/or jam.
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups (490g) plain/all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 stick (56g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup (164g) raisins, optional
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups +2tbsp (390ml) buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Place the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Add in the cubes of butter an either use a pastry cutter or your hands to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Continue until you have a coarse breadcrumb texture.
- Add in the raisins and stir briefly to disperse.
- Add in the egg and buttermilk. Begin to bring the mixture together by stirring gently. You want the dough to come together into one lump with no flour left in the bowl. The dough should be a little sticky, but not so wet and sticky it's a gloopy mess.
- If the mixture is too wet, add flour 1tbsp at a time and mix. If it is too dry, add a little more buttermilk, 1tbsp at a time. The amounts above made the perfect consistency dough for me, but everyone's scales are calibrated differently and there are many other things that can affect dough! Just be careful and add things little by little.
- Tip the dough into the centre of your baking tray. Flour your hands lightly and then gently shape the dough into a circle around 7 inches across. Take a serrated knife and score the dough left to right and up to down to make a cross.
- Place the bread into the oven for 35-40 minutes, until risen, golden all over and an inserted knife into the centre comes out clean, with no wet dough. The bread should have a good golden colour all over.
- Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before digging in. Irish Soda Bread can be served warm from the oven, toasted or at room temperature and is great with butter and/or jam. It will keep in a Ziploc bag, at room temperature for 6-7 days.
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
