In the midst of the cold and rainy March weather, the bright glow of St. Patrick’s Day is so welcome. I look forward to my corned beef, cabbage and potatoes every year — but nothing beats a slice of buttery Irish soda bread filled with raisins to top it all off. My family and I always buy several loaves of soda bread from various bakeries and farm stands in search of the best one. This year, however, I decided to try something a little different: I discovered a recipe for Irish soda bread that’s ready to pop in the oven in 10 minutes. The best part? The bread comes out perfectly browned and crisp on top with a delicious and fluffy middle! Keep reading for the simple soda bread recipe along with my home baker’s tips to nail a delicious loaf in no time.
How is soda bread made?
Traditional soda bread contains flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk and, sometimes, raisins. Once these ingredients form a dough, it’s shaped into a round loaf and baked. Although this bread isn’t made with yeast, the reaction between the baking soda and buttermilk produces carbon dioxide that helps the bread rise. This results in soda bread that tastes like a mild biscuit — with hints of sweetness from the raisins. Slices of this bread can be smeared with butter or served with hearty dishes like beef stew or corned beef and cabbage.
The popularity of soda bread
This bread became a part of Irish cuisine around the mid-1800s as baking soda was more readily available than before. “The chemical magic between baking soda and an acidic substances was a discovery made by many scientists, but the unique combination of flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk eluded many of them but eventually it became the recipe of the daily bread in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century,” Ed O’Dwyer, founder of Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, explains.
While baking soda’s accessibility contributed to this bread’s popularity, it’s still beloved because it doesn’t require a lengthy rise time like yeast breads do. This allows you toprep the dough in mere minutes before popping it in the oven. Talk about hassle-free homemade bread!
If you want to make your own Irish soda bread this St. Patrick’s Day, try this recipe from the Stay at Home Chef food blog. It contains just 5 ingredients and comes together in just 45 minutes!(For more St. Patrick’s Day fare, try these recipes for Irish corned beef and cabbage and Irish stew.)
In large bowl whisk together 2½ cups flour, salt, and baking soda. Add buttermilk and raisins and stir until dough just comes together.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth ball forms. Gradually add more flour as necessary to achieve dough that’s firm and not sticky.
Dust outside with flour and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Use sharp knife to slash one inch deep cross on top of the loaf.
Bake in oven 35 minutes or until golden brown.Cool on wire rack before slicing and serving.
Home baker’s tips for making this recipe
Knowing that my oven is getting a bit old and doesn’t heat up as well as it should, I preheated it to 445°F. If you struggle with the same issue, I suggest getting an oven thermometer and checking the true temperature of your oven. The temperature will dictate how well your soda bread bakes.
Additionally, I found that 2½ cups of flour was nearly the perfect amount as I mixed the ingredients together. When I turned the dough out onto a wooden board, I added about ¼ cup of flour and only lightly kneaded it. (I prefer a very soft bread full of moisture. But if you prefer a bread that’s a little less doughy, add a bit more flour until it reaches your desired consistency.)
My taste test
Biting into a thick slice of this Irish soda bread was heaven! The outside had a deeply satisfying crunch, and the middle was perfectly soft and chewy, with just the right amount of raisins. I’ll admit that the dough was just a bit too salty for me (especially because I topped my slice with a pat of salted butter). In the future, I’ll use one teaspoon of salt instead of two. Now that I know how simple it is to make soda bread, I’ll be whipping up a loaf every St. Paddy’s Day going forward!
For more delicious bread ideas, check out these recipes!
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The most traditional doneness test calls for thumping the hot bread in the center to hear if it's hollow-sounding. A more foolproof indication is temperature; the loaf will register 200°F to 205°F when an instant-read thermometer is inserted in the center of the bread.
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 prepared without yeast. Traditionally it has just four ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The baking soda and buttermilk react to cause the dough to rise.
Too much kneading will create a hard dense crumb on the bread. Rule of thumb with no yeast breads, the less kneading the softer the crumb. Score the bread. This is an important step to helping to ensure that the center is cooked.
Barely any kneading is necessary, but if you overknead it, it makes for a pretty tough bread. Start by mixing the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar together. Dice up the cold butter and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or the tips of your fingers.
Bake the bread for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean; the interior of the bread will measure 200°F to 210° on an instant-read thermometer. Remove the bread from the oven, loosen its edges, and after 5 minutes turn it out onto a rack to cool.
If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. Transfer the dough to the prepared skillet/pan. Using a very sharp knife or bread lame, score the dough with a slash or X about 1/2 inch deep.
Tightly wrap your leftover bread and place it in an airtight container. There's no need to refrigerate. As for how long soda bread lasts: Irish soda bread tends to dry out faster than other breads. The bread will be good for 3-4 days or up to three months if frozen.
Your oven is too hot if it is uncooked in the center. Try lowering the temp on your oven by 25F and extending the bake time. Don't put anything on the top of the bread to aid in browning until the last few min. of cooking, and use an instant read thermometer (target temp to pull is 190F).
Ireland, for one, has embraced it's kind of bread – the soda bread. It is a basic staple among the Irish that they call it Irish Soda Bread. It's common to see the locals pair this famous bread with a bottle of Guinness too.
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.
In Ulster, the wholemeal variety is usually known as wheaten bread and is normally sweetened, while the term "soda bread" is restricted to the white savoury form. In the southern provinces of Ireland, the wholemeal variety is usually known as brown bread and is almost identical to the Ulster wheaten.
In my experience, one of the things that puts people off soda bread is the bitter tang of bicarbonate of soda, so it's important to get the balance right: just enough to raise the bread, but not enough to taint the flavour.
Chances are good that the bread you ate suffered from one of three common problems: improper amount of baking soda (a gross, salty-bitter taste), over cooking (a dry, chalky texture), or undercooking (a soggy, doughy center).
Your oven is too hot if it is uncooked in the center. Try lowering the temp on your oven by 25F and extending the bake time. Don't put anything on the top of the bread to aid in browning until the last few min. of cooking, and use an instant read thermometer (target temp to pull is 190F).
The oldest recipe for soda bread, widely syndicated from Ireland's Newry Times in 1836, says the dough was "as soft as could possibly be handled...the softer the better." Thirteen years and 180 miles down the road, the Waterford Times described it as "wetter than pie crust, too stiff to pour, but not stiff enough to ...
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.
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