Irish Soda Bread
Would it be St. Patrick’s day without Irish Soda Bread? Not in my house! Put on the kettle and enjoy a slice of this buttermilk-enriched, raisin-filled traditional Irish Soda Bread with a hot cup of tea.
Table of contents
What is Irish Soda Bread?
Irish soda bread is a “quick bread”. Quick breads get their lift from a chemical leavener (baking soda) instead of yeast. As soon as the bread is mixed it’s ready to bake.
With no yeast or fussy fermentation, no rolling or cutting, soda bread is even easier to make than muffins or biscuits.
If you keep a sourdough starter, you can make Sourdough Irish Soda Bread or Sourdough Irish Brown Bread with your discard.
Ingredients
How to make Irish Soda Bread
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Cut in the butter and toss in the raisins.
- Add the buttermilk all at once.
- Start mixing with a spoon, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and finish mixing by hand.
- Cut a deep “X” on the loaf for the traditional soda bread shape. This also promotes even rising.
Recipe Tips
- Mixing by hand helps ensure that you won’t over work and toughen the dough.
- The dough can be a little sticky. If your hands get coated with the sticky dough don’t try to wash it off with water, it’ll just get stickier and leave a mess in the sink. Dip your hands into the flour bin to coat them. Holding your hands over the trash can, rub them together vigorously and the sticky dough will come off easily.
- Cutting a deep X in the top of the loaf before it goes in the oven ensures that it will rise evenly without splitting in random places.
- The raisins are optional but highly recommended.
- If the raisins on the surface of the dough burn in the oven, just pick them off (careful, they’re hot) when the bread comes out of the oven.
Storage
The bread is best the day it’s made, but will keep several days at room temperature. It will keep in the freezer for 1-2 months.
All you need is a little creamery butter and maybe a dollop of Blood Orange Marmalade for the perfect teatime treat.
Let’s not limit soda bread to St. Patrick’s day. It’s so easy to make and so tasty it should be enjoyed year-round.
More Irish inspired recipes
- Honey Kissed Irish Whiskey Cake
- Irish Brown Bread
- Baileys Pot de Creme
- Baileys Bundt Cakes
- Baileys Cheesecake
- Baileys Chocolate Macarons
- Guinness Fudge Cake
- Triple Guinness Cake
- Irish Tea Brack
- Irish Apple Cake
- Irish Coffee Trifle
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 20 ounces unbleached all purpose flour (4 cups, see note)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 ounce granulated sugar (2 tablespoons)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ ounces unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 6 ounces raisins (1 cup)
- 16 ounces buttermilk (2 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Sift or whisk together 20 ounces unbleached all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon table salt, 1 ounce granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Use your hands to work 1 ½ ounces unsalted butter into the dry ingredients until there are no pieces larger than the size of a pea. Toss 6 ounces raisins with the dry ingredients.
- Add 16 ounces buttermilk all at once and mix until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. The dough may seem dry at this point but it will come together.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead about 15-20 times to form a smooth ball. Place the loaf onto the prepared baking sheet. Use your hands to flatten the ball slightly. Use a sharp knife to cut a 1/2″-3/4″ deep X into the top of the loaf. Brush the loaf with buttermilk.
- Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom or the middle of the loaf is about 200 °F, 45 minutes to an hour.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We’ll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Although my bread tastes really good , I notice from your pics mine spreads a little more than yours rises . Why is that ?
I halved the recipe and found the dough to be VERY sticky. (Used unbleached, all purpose flour, measured by weight.) Was ready to abandon but then decided to go ahead, bake and….see what happens! It’s very good! I added a generous amount of raisins which made the bread moist and naturally sweet. Glad I persevered!
It can be a sticky dough to handle. Use plenty of flour on your hands and on the surface. As I noted in the “Recipe Tips” section: “The dough can be a little sticky. If your hands get coated with the sticky dough don’t try to wash it off with water, it’ll just get stickier and leave a mess in the sink. Dip your hands into the flour bin to coat them. Holding your hands over the trash can, rub them together vigorously and the sticky dough will come off easily.”
My favorite Irish soda bread recipe I’ve tried so far. It’s ever so slightly sweet and isn’t stingy with the raisins. My main complaint with store bought was always too much sugar and not enough raisins.
I weighed my ingredients and used a homemade “buttermilk” (milk w/ a splash of lemon juice).
The dough was a bit sticky to work with (especially at the beginning), but I always keep my hands well floured and use a bowl scraper to help manipulate and move the dough around.
Made two smaller loaves and it took about 40 minutes to bake.
I don’t have buttermilk at the moment but have whole milk. Could I substitute the whole milk in place of the buttermilk?
Yes. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar to 2 cups of whole milk. Let it sit for 10 minutes to let it thicken.
Hello,
What are your thoughts about using bread flour with this recipe?!
I think it would make the bread too chewy. I would stick with all purpose flour.
Hi, this recipe looks amazing and just what I was loolking for. one question. Salted or unsatled butter..
Thanks.
I always use unsalted butter. But, since there’s really a small amount of butter in the recipe, you can use salted butter without adjusting the salt in the recipe. No need to go out and buy special butter if you’ve got salted butter on hand. Enjoy!
I found a gem when I tried this recipe. Quick and easy. I substitute cheddar cheese for the sultanas and enjoy it with soup. This will be my go to recipe from now on. 🙂
Thanks! I made 2 loaves of this bread for St. Patrick’s day. It’s always a hit. I’ve never tried it with cheddar, but I will now. Thanks for the great idea!
It always amazes me the people will ask for instructional information in recipes despite the fact that ALL the instructions are clearly stated within the recipe preparation steps.
So! people may need clarification, or re-wording.. Please let’s not get snarky over someones enthusiasm! Sheesh! Top of der mornin to yer.! ☘
I love homemade bread. Looks delicious!
I had Irish soda bread for the first time on st pattys day this year and told my husband I had to make some. Glad i found this!
Great Denisse. Of course soda bread is not only for St. Patrick’s day. It’s a quick and easy recipe for any time of year.
I followed recipe exact and my dough was very sricky, never seemed dry. It’s baking now. When I was trying to kneed it I kneeded in more flour hoping to dry it up a bit.
What type of flour did you use? Did you measure by cups or by weight? A sticky dough should be fine and should bake up nice and light. Let me know how it works out. I just made this bread today and had a few slices already. Delicious!
@Jen, same! I had to have added at LEAST a US cup and a half. Will be doing this again and tweaking.
I used all purpose flour, and did by measuring cups (spooning into each cup).
Just to be clear, this dough is sticky when it’s mixed. A wetter dough will result in a lighter bread. If you’re finding it difficult to knead try cleaning your hands of any dough that is sticking to them. I do this by dipping my hands in the flour bin, then rubbing them together over the trash bin to remove all the bits of dough. I then dip my dry hands in flour again. Your dry hands will stick less to the dough.
I use the “dip and sweep” method for filling dry measuring cups. That is, I dip the cup into the bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess. Using the dip and sweep method will result in a heavier cup of flour. If you are spooning the flour into the cup you could be using as much as an ounce less (28g) per cup of flour in the recipe. At 4 cups, that’s 4 oz (112g) less flour than the recipe calls for. That’s why weighing your ingredients will always yield the best results for baking.
I made the mistake of not reading everything before starting this! I’m forever doing that; I just get to excited. So of course I tried to use my stand mixer. Like you said, not a great idea! Ended up so incredibly sticky that after I dumped it out I had to add almost a whole cup of flour before it would hold its shape. I’m still going to cook it and see how it does but I’ll probably just give it another shot. Your photos are so gorgeous!
Oops, let me know if it’s ok.
Can I use the stand mixer with the dough hook?
Hi Colleen. I don’t use the dough hook for non-yeast breads. You’d have to be very careful not to work the dough too much since the hook is designed for kneading dough and developing gluten. Unlike a yeast dough, you don’t want to develop the gluten in soda bread. Overworking the dough will make the bread too chewy. Kneading will also knock out some of the air created by the baking soda/powder, making the loaf dense.
I make the dough by hand, but if you prefer to use the stand mixer I would use the paddle. After adding the buttermilk let the dough partially mix, then dump the dough onto a floured surface and finish kneading by hand. If you do choose to use the dough hook just keep an eye on it and take if off the mixer as soon as the dough is combined.
How long do you bake it for?
Hi Diane. It usually takes about 45 minutes to bake. If it starts getting very brown on the bottom you can slide another pan underneath half way through baking. Hope you like it!! Eileen