Irish soda bread is a delicious hearty quick bread and is great served with any cozy meal.
This easy bread recipe is made with a combination of wheat flour and white flour and doesn’t require a lot of kneading or rise time. If you’d like, a handful of raisins or currants can be added.
The Origin of Irish Soda Bread
Irish Soda Bread originated in the 1800s when baking soda was introduced to Ireland. This bread was made with ingredients commonly found in kitchens at the time: sour milk, wheat flour, and soda.
Back then, people cooked over open hearths, and soda bread was baked on griddles or in iron pots. This bread has a cross cut into the top of a flattened round loaf. For more information on the history of this bread, click here.
Today, we use buttermilk instead of sour milk. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own sour milk with one cup of milk and one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Stir the mixture, then let it stand for five minutes before using it in your recipe.
How to Make Irish Soda Bread
This Irish bread is a quick bread that uses baking soda instead of yeast to make it rise. The best part is that you don’t have to wait around for long rising times and it takes just minutes to prepare.
- Dry ingredients: Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl per recipe below.
- Wet ingredients: Stir in the egg and buttermilk a little at a time. Knead the bread just until smooth.
- Shape & Bake: Shape into a circle, cut a ½-inch X in the center, and bake until golden brown.
How to Serve Irish Soda Bread
The soda bread recipe produces a dense, crusty loaf, perfect for cutting into wedges and dipping in broth or gravy. It’s also great served warm with butter.
Storage & Leftovers
This will keep well on the counter for a day or two. If you want to keep it longer, it’s perfect to slice and freeze.
- To freeze a loaf, let the loaf cool then place in an airtight container or zippered bag, and pop in the freezer with a date.
- To freeze a slice, wrap leftover slices individually in plastic wrap and pop into a zippered bag.
- When ready to enjoy, remove from the freezer and let thaw on the counter.
More Quick Bread Recipes
Did you love this Irish Soda Bread? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Irish Soda Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk divided, or as needed
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the egg and half of the buttermilk. Stir to combine.
- Continue adding the remaining buttermilk a little bit at a time, stirring just until the dough holds together.
- On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a 9-inch circle. Cut a cross shape ½-inch deep across the top.
- Transfer the dough to a parchment lined baking pan.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped.
- Allow the bread to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- You can make your own buttermilk substitute by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 3/4 cups of milk. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes before using.
- This bread is best served fresh but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Optional additions include 1/2 cup of raisins or currants.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Irish© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Serve with Lamb Stew.
This Irish Soda Bread Recipe has been adapted from The Cross Cookbook, an old church cookbook written with a typewriter. The submission was made by Sr. Ida Mary.
Sources of information for the history of Irish Soda Bread: Irish Central, Wikipedia
I have used lots of your recipes so I know there is nothing wrong with the recipe. It must be me. I have tried several recipes over the years and they all come out like a rock! Hard shell! Please tell me what I’m doing wrong, I think I somehow overwork it or something…….
Soda bread does typically have a crispy outer shell Kathleen. The inside is soft. Sounds like maybe it turned out!
Hi: Could I use Buckwheat Flour as the Whole Wheat Alternative? Along with White Gluten Free?
I have not tried with buckwheat or gluten-free flour so I can’t say for sure Jennifer. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
This bread recipe is so damn good. Found it when I was looking for a low sodium alternative to corned beef for St. Patrick’s day dinner. It shocked me how good it was, as the recipe is so simple. But, now having found this recipe, Im gunna start making this bread regularly. Its absolutely divine with butter and honey, especially creamed honey.
So so happy to hear that, Michelle! ❤️
Can I use all white flour , dont have any whole wheat.
Definitely Vicki, you can sub the whole wheat flour for white flour.
I prefer my soda bread with dried raisins or currants, and caraway seed is a must!
Those all sound fabulous to me Cindy!
we made it for st. paddys day. what a nice suprise!!! ive never made an unlevened bread. this was easy to make, fresh out of the oven,with butter, we started dinner with an irish soda bread appetizer :). it was great with our meal, sopping up the pot drippings on our plates. i recommend this receipe, it’s easy to follow, inexpensive, and very tasty.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Dawn!