Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

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Irish brown soda bread is one of the most practical breads you can bake at home and a great starting point for beginner bakers. Make sure you watch this step by step video all the way through on Youtube to see the method in action.

Soda bread uses simple, everyday ingredients, requires no yeast or proving time, and can be mixed and baked in around about an hour.

Equipment For Irish Soda Bread

You don’t need much as it is handmade.

• A good sized mixing bowl.
• A wooden spoon or spatula.
• A cooling rack
• A digital weighing scales. This is not essential but I highly recommend digital scales for baking. It gives a level of accuracy that is unmatched. Having confidence in your measurements as a new baker is great for building confidence too which is half the battle!

Top Tips

• You can bake this recipe in a halogen oven. I like to flip it over for the last ten minutes to finish baking it . Sometime I will give it ten more minutes while upside down if it has not baked fully by 50 minutes.
• To know if it is fully baked, tap on the bottom and it should sound hollow.
• Brown soda bread takes quite a bit of baking and it needs at least 40 minutes but 50 minutes is better. It will develop a deep brown on the crust which is what you are aiming for.
• Wrap it in a clean tea towel and leave on a cooling rack to cool before cutting.This allows the crust, which will be fairly tough, to soften a little. this is the traditional method which I highly recommend.

Jump ahead to the recipe

Helpful Variations & Ideas 

Irish soda bread is such an adaptable food. Once you get used to baking it, you will want nothing else!

• For more traditional Irish recipes like soda bread you should try the Odlums website. For traditional Irish baked goods, this website is the holy grail!
• If you enjoy soda bread, you are going to need some delicious soup to go with it. Go here to make my vegetable soup, the style of which is commonly available in Ireland. It is so commonly available that it is known as ‘funeral soup’!
• Soda bread can be served in so many ways. You can go sweet with jam and butter or nutella and sliced banana. You could also so a bit posh and top it with smoked salmon, a popular dish in Irish households especially at Christmas.

FAQs’ About Irish Soda Bread

• Can I freeze Irish soda bread? Absolutely. It freezes and defrosts really well. As soda bread is quite dense, it is best to take it out of the freezer the night before you want to use it. Just leave it in a cool dry place. You do not need to warm it up to use it on defrosting however, toasted soda bread is really delicious too!
• What type of flour should I use? Plain flour or all purpose flour is the first flour you need. This is readily available in most super markets. You also need wholemeal flour which can be harder to get depending on where you live. If you live in Ireland well then, lucky you, because you can get this flour in any supermarket generally speaking. I live in the UK and I have had to hunt for it! I not buy it in Waitrose. Make sure you are buying wholemeal flour and NOT strong wholemeal flour which is generally meant for yeast based breads.
• Should I knead my soda bread? I have been making soda bread for years and I never knead it. Kneading this bread can make it tough. Light handling is better. Go back and watch the video to see how best to combine the ingredients and shape the bread.

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Irish Soda Bread

This is a traditional Irish bread, a great starting point for beginner bakers

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Servings: 8

Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Lunch, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Irish

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 225 g wholemeal flour
• 225 g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/ bread soda
• 375-425 ml buttermilk

Method

 

1. Preheat a fan oven to 200C ( 220 non fan)
2. Put the flours, salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre.
4. Pour in most of the buttermilk and mix gently with a spatula or wooden spoon.
5. Add more milk only if needed to form a soft, sticky dough.
6. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a round.
7. Do not knead.
8. Place on a lined tray.
9. Cut a deep cross into the top.
10. Put the bread into the centre of the oven with grease proof paper underneath.
11. Bake for 50 minutes.
12. To check if it is baked, turn it over and tap the bottom of the bread. It should sound hollow.
13. Cool on a wire rack, wrapped in a clean tea towel before serving.

Notes

Brown soda bread will be a deep brown colour when baked and the crust will be quite tough. It needs wrapping whilst cooling to soften the crust a little. 

It takes a good 45 to 50 minutes to bake fully. You do not want the centre of your bread to be wet or sticky when you cut it. 

This is the original 'no knead' bread. A cake of soda bread is essentially a big scone for the want of a better explanation. Make sure you do your mixing with the dry ingredients only. Once they are combined well the main thing to get right after that is essentially making sure all the flour is wet with buttermilk. 

Start by adding 375mls of buttermilk and as in the video above just pull the flour into the buttermilk to wet it. If you still have exposed floury bits after a minute or so add another 25mls. If you still find that there are dry bits left slowly add the remaining 25mls if needed. you may need the last 25 mls of buttermilk if you are using a flour with high protein content, which is a 'thirsty' flour.