Irish Soda Bread
This bakery quality Irish soda bread has a soft, moist and chewy center with a wonderfully crusty exterior. The best part about this no-fuss recipe is that you can have freshly baked bread in under an hour.
I love homemade bread. Especially one that can be prepared from start to finish in no time. This effortless recipe from Simply Recipes is just flour, salt, baking soda, buttermilk and an egg. You can add some raisins and a touch of sugar if you like or leave it plain. I like it mine with raisins.
This Irish soda bread is all prepared in one bowl. There is no yeast in the recipe, which means there is no kneading and waiting, then kneading and waiting again. You just mix everything in a bowl, knead once, and bake. The result is a lovely crusty bread with a nice soft crumb center.
You start by working the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until it resembles coarse meal. Then you toss in the raisins and sugar if using, add in the buttermilk and egg, and stir until the dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead just a few times to gather the dough into a round circle. It will look very rough and shaggy, which is what you want. If you over-knead the dough the bread will be tough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased and floured 9″ round baking pan. Score a deep X into the dough with a sharp serrated knife and bake for about 35 minutes. Irish soda bread is best served warm and fresh out of the oven.
This Irish soda bread is fragrant with a light buttery scent, and there is a subtle richness from the egg. It also has a light toasty smell from the crust. The center is soft and the taste can be made sweet or savory.
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Irish Soda Bread
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 - 9" loaf
Description
This bakery quality Irish soda bread has a soft, moist and chewy center with a wonderfully crusty exterior.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp (57g) butter
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 3/4 cups (438ml) buttermilk
Optional
- 1 cup (160g) raisins
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly grease and flour a 9″ round baking pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Work the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Toss in the raisins and sugar if using.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough comes together. Add a little more flour (2-4 tbsp) if the dough seems too wet.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently knead to form into shape of a loaf. Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy. You want to work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-knead, the bread will end up tough.
- Transfers the dough onto the prepared baking pan. Using a sharp knife, cut an X along the top of the dough about 1″ deep.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Best served warm and just baked.
Notes
Leftovers can be stored at room temperature tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Please note soda bread dries out pretty quickly, so it’s really only good for a day or two.
- Category: bread
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: Irish
Keywords: Irish soda bread recipe, easy Irish soda bread, Irish soda bread with raisins
14 Comments on “Irish Soda Bread”
We made this to have with stew on St Patrick’s Day and it was perfect and sky high! I made it again without buttermilk and it was good — but would definitely recommend buttermilk to give it the real wow factor. Thanks, Lily!
★★★★★
Aww, you’re very welcome, Andrea:) Thank you for your kind words and Happy Easter to you and your family!
Love this recipe! I usually make it sweet with 1 TBS of sugar, 1tsp of vanilla, zest of 1 large lemon and 1 cup of white chocolate chips – but I’ve tried a few other variations and they’ve all worked great. So versatile and delicious – thank you!!
★★★★★
You’re very welcome, Zaji! I’m glad you love the recipe and thank you for your lovely review.
Hi I made the soda bread,very easy8 baked it for 45 min.I tested it came out clean. It was brown on top looked delicious.The outside cut was fine but I found the middle was still doughy. Any suggestions as to what I’m doing wrong.Thank you
Hi Linda,
The only thing I can think of is perhaps your dough was too wet in the middle so the outside was done before the center. Also, cutting a deeper X into the bread might help the bread cook more evenly. I’ve spent the morning researching this and those are my best guesses. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
I love how soft and moist the bread is!
★★★★★
I’ve never seen a soda bread recipe with egg in before or raisins, and I’m half Irish. There’s very few bread recipes that use egg here (UK) how does it help?
Hi Stephen,
This is more of an American version of Irish soda bread. The egg adds richness, flavor and helps the bread rise. The raisins are a personal preference. I like it because it adds sweetness and texture to the bread. I hope that answers your question:)
Could this recipe be cut in half? I am thinking the only necessary change would be baking time.
I’ve heard the complaint from people that Irish Soda bread is just like a big scone. And I’m always like, “And so your point is…?” 😉 I guess they weren’t a fan of scones. But I am, and that looks fantastic! I’m also a big fan of Simply Recipes, have always been happy with anything I made from that site. Have a great St. Patrick’s Day, Lily!
She’s awesome! I’ve also had great success with many of her recipes. Happy St. Patty’s Day to you as well and thanks for stopping by:)
Looks delicious! Thank you for sharing over at Fiesta Friday!
Thanks Antonia!