Irish soda bread is a beautifully chewy whole wheat bread leavened with baking soda instead of yeast, so it comes together quickly and requires no proofing time. It’s ready to put in the oven in about 5 minutes and bakes up with a slightly crisp crust and a tight, chewy crumb inside. This bread is perfect with soups and stews and is a wonderful way to scoop up extra gravy after a pot roast dinner.
Let’s get started…
The only thing kind of specific about this bread recipe is the amount of time that is between combining the ingredients and getting the loaf into the oven. This bread rises from the reaction between the acid in the buttermilk and the baking soda in the dough, so you want to get the dough into the oven pretty soon after combining the ingredients, so it can begin baking while the ingredients are still reacting actively.
In a large bowl, combine 220 grams of all purpose flour (which is just under 1 1/2 cups), 240 grams of whole wheat flour (about 2 cups), 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt. I do recommend weighing the flour for this bread, because adding too much flour will result in a dense, dry loaf.
Add 450ml or just under 2 cups of buttermilk into the bowl and mix until all of the ingredients are combined.
Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and knead it just a few times. This dough is very soft, pliable and sticky, but dust your hands with flour and gently fold the dough over itself a few times and then shape it into a round disk.
In total, avoid working with the dough longer than a minute between kneading and shaping.
Transfer the shaped dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and use a very sharp knife or bread scoring knife to cut a large X less than 1/4 inch deep over the top surface of the loaf.
Transfer into a 425 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
The bread is ready to come out when the crust is firm and the underside of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on. At this point, transfer the loaf onto a cooling rack to relax for about 30 minutes before slicing into it.
This Irish soda bread is wonderful. The whole wheat flour and buttermilk adds beautiful layers of flavor and the texture is amazing. It is much more tender and moist than your typical non-yeast bread recipes with a beautifully thick crust and chewy crumb.
This is definitely a great recipe to have on hand for those times when you need a comforting loaf baked in under an hour. These times come around more often than you may think…
Buon Appetito!
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 450 ml of buttermilk
- 220 grams of all purpose flour (just under 1 1/2 cups)
- 240 grams of whole wheat flour (about 2 cups)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
- In a large bowl, combine 220 grams of all purpose flour, 240 grams of whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt
- Add 450ml of buttermilk and mix until the ingredients are combined into a soft dough
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and quickly knead just a few times to bring the dough together (no longer than 30 seconds)
- Shape the dough into a round disk and transfer onto a parchment lined baking sheet
- Use a very sharp knife or bread scoring knife to cut a large X over the top surface of the dough no deeper than 1/4”
- Transfer into a 425 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on
- Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack and let it color 30 minutes before slicing
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature
