St. Patrick's Day Irish Soda Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Irish bread and Irish soda bread? ›

Irish brown bread has a deep, nutty flavor because of its wheat flour and wheat bran while soda bread uses only white flour. Soda bread is slightly sweet and more scone-like while Irish brown bread is more savory with a tender interior.

4 cups flour / 1 tsp baking soda / 1/2 tsp baking soda / thimble full of caraway seeds (1 tbsp) / 1 cup raisins/ 2 cups buttermilk (or milk with lemon juice or vinegar). Mix all dry ingredients, add buttermilk/ mix until it is blended/ place on floured cutting board and kneed and roll into a flat round loaf.

And finally, don't immediately cut into the Fast Irish Soda bread when you pull it out of the oven. Although this bread is best served warm, cutting into it too quickly will turn the bread gummy.

Irish Soda Bread is a dense bread, similar to a scone, but can easily become dry if overmixed. Quickly add the wet ingredients to a well you've made in the dry ingredients, and mix with your hands or a dough hook until it just comes together.

Serving the Irish Soda Bread

Although soda bread is ideal for serving at room temperature, it is better to serve it warm.

How to Eat Irish Soda Bread. This versatile bread works for any meal, but Irish soda bread is a natural for breakfast, whether simply spread with (Irish) butter and jam or alongside that hearty fry-up known as a full Irish breakfast. It's also wonderful with a cup of tea in the afternoon or as a late-night snack.

Make sure you are using the correct amount of baking soda in the recipe. Too much or too little can result in a crumbly loaf. It's also possible that your oven wasn't hot enough when you baked the bread.

In the United States, "Irish soda bread" generally means a somewhat sweet white bread made with eggs and butter and studded with raisins and caraway seeds — the "soda" in the name comes from the baking soda (or "bread soda" in Ireland) used to leaven it instead of yeast and kneading.

Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread that does not require any yeast. Instead, all of its leavening comes from baking soda and buttermilk. This Irish soda bread recipe is my grandmother's and has been cherished in my family for years. It's dense, yet soft and has the most incredible crusty exterior.

You're looking for a dough that's soft but not overly sticky or wet, and that holds together enough to make a loaf that can hold its shape on the sheet pan. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add up to 1/2 cup additional buttermilk, a tablespoon or so at a time, until it comes together.

How to tell when Irish soda bread is done? ›

Bake until golden and cooked through.

The most traditional doneness test calls for thumping the hot bread in the center to hear if it's hollow-sounding.

A soda bread defined in America

If you want to make an authentic Irish soda bread, the difference lies in what ingredients you should omit. According to Epicurious, Irish-American soda breads use caraway seeds and raisins in the recipe, while soda breads from Ireland lack both of these add-ins.

Yes, you do not have to put raisins in Irish Soda Bread. You can leave it plain, add dried cranberries, or the nontraditional (but delicious) choice of chocolate chips. If you do use a dried fruit, I recommend soaking them in warm water for about 20 minutes to allow them to absorb the water and plump up.

Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy (a little like a shortcake biscuit dough). You want to work it just enough so the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-work the dough the bread will end up tough.

What is soda bread? Soda bread is a type of quick bread which takes its name from the baking soda (or, sodium bicarbonate) that is used as a leavening agent instead of the traditional yeast. Traditionally, soda bread is made using flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.

But sourdough, unlike other breads, contains lactic acid. This lactic acid neutralizes levels of phytates because it lowers the pH of the bread. As a result, sourdough bread has a higher level of available minerals and up to 62% less phytic acid than conventional bread.

Irish soda bread has a couple of other names, too: When we attended a class at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, they made this loaf and called it a Spotted Dog. It's also called white soda bread, American Irish soda bread, or fruit soda bread.

Irish soda bread is a dense and tender quick bread with a subtle tangy buttermilk flavor.