Traditional Irish Soda Bread

5 from 3 votes

Quick, simple and delicious, this easy recipe for Traditional Irish Soda Bread takes just 40 minutes from start to finish, with only 10 minutes prep time, and no kneading or proving required!

Course Bread

Cuisine Irish

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings slices

Calories 177kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

150 g plain wholemeal flour (see Note 1)
200 g plain white flour (see Note 1)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon baking soda (see Note 2)
285 ml buttermilk (see Note 3)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F. Dust a non-stick baking tray with a little flour.
In a large bowl, mix together thoroughly the two flours, salt and baking soda.
Pour the buttermilk into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Bring the dough together into a ball using your hands. The dough should just come together into a ball, but shouldn’t be wet and sloppy. (If it doesn’t all come together, add a splash of water. If it’s too wet and sloppy add a touch more flour.)
Roll the dough into a ball and place on your prepared baking tray.
Flatten the ball a little and then cut a deep cross into it. The cross should go almost to the base of the loaf – but not quite!
Bake the loaf in your pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked all the way through and golden on top.
Ideally, serve warm – straight out of the oven!

Notes

Be sure to use plain (all purpose) flour NOT bread flour or self-raising flour
Be sure to use baking soda (which is the same as bicarbonate of soda) DO NOT use baking powder, which is a different thing entirely!
If you cannot get hold of buttermilk you can make ‘fake’ buttermilk, using vinegar and milk instead. Simply combine 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 200 ml milk (regular or plant-based). Use this in place of the buttermilk in the recipe above.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition