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Super Simple Irish Soda Bread Two Ways

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A cast iron skillet with freshly baked Irish soda bread.

I was all set to complicate Irish soda bread by making a yeasted version when I started looking into its history and discovered that the soda — the baking soda — is perhaps the most traditional part of the bread, much more so than butter, sugar, eggs and raisins, in fact, which likely entered the equation when the bread crossed the pond.

Inspired by that article, I made a traditional loaf of soda bread with flour, salt, buttermilk and baking soda, and while it was perfectly edible, I found myself missing the richness of eggs and sugar, the scone-like texture created by the addition of butter…what can I say, I’m American!

Here, I’ve added a bit of the riches back in: one egg, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and a couple tablespoons of melted butter, which produces a loaf that still resembles a giant biscuit, but less so.

There are two recipes below, one that calls for 100% all-purpose flour — the horror! — and one that calls for a mix of whole wheat, all-purpose, and wheat germ, which produces a slightly denser but no less delicious, chewy, tangy loaf. Each dough takes about 5 minutes to mix-up and each will be ready to be slathered with butter and marmalade about an hour later.

Irish Soda Bread in 3 Simple Steps

  1. Whisk together the dry ingredients. A bowl with dry ingredients for Irish soda bread plus a whisk.
  2. Add the wet ingredients: a mix of buttermilk, melted butter, and egg.A bowl of mixed Irish soda bread dough.
  3. Form into a ball using floured hands, transfer to a cast iron skillet, and score.A cast iron skillet of shaped Irish soda bread, scored.
  4. Bake until golden.Just-baked Irish soda bread in a cast iron skillet. Just baked Irish soda bread in a cast iron skillet, sideview.
  5. When cool enough to handle, slice it up. Overhead shot of a loaf of Irish soda bread, sliced.
  6. Slather with butter or orange marmalade. A plate of Irish soda bread slathered with orange marmalade.

Love this Argyle Cheese Farmer buttermilk:
A quart of Argyle cheese farmer buttermilk.

This is the soda bread when made with a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour as well as wheat germ:
A cast iron skillet of just-baked whole wheat Irish soda bread.

Whole grain soda bread, sliced:
A crumb shot of whole wheat Irish soda bread.

 

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A cast iron skillet of just-baked Irish soda bread.

Super Simple Irish Soda Bread

★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews
  • Author: Alexandra Stafford
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 1 loaf
Print Recipe

Description

This recipe is inspired by this one from Simply Recipes. I add more salt — I find 2 teaspoons of salt for every 4 cups of flour to be about right. And instead of working 4 tablespoons of butter into the dough as you would for biscuits or scones, I use 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

This Irish soda bread still resembles a biscuit but has less of that biscuity/scone feel. If you want to use whole grain flour in your soda bread, use these ingredients, which are inspired by an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, in place of the 4 cups all-purpose flour:

  • 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups (192 g) whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup (55 g) wheat germ

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (510 g) all-purpose flour, see notes above for making it whole grain
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1¾ cups buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • room temperature butter for greasing
  • flour for dusting

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
  2. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the egg, and beat with a fork to incorporate slightly. Add the buttermilk followed by the melted butter and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Mixture will be sticky. Grease a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet (or other similarly sized vessel) with softened butter. Set aside.
  3. Lightly flour your hands and sprinkle a little flour over the sticky dough ball. Use your hands to scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and to quickly shape the mass into a ball, kneading lightly if necessary. Transfer to prepared skillet. Sprinkle with a teensy bit more flour. Use a sharp knife to make an X across the top of the dough ball. Place in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: Irish

Keywords: soda bread, St. Patrick's Day, Irish, buttermilk

· In: Bread, Fall, Gifts, Quick Breads, Spring, St. Patrick's Day, Summer, Winter

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{ 49 Responses }

  1. Thanks, Ali. I love a traditional soda bread with more of an American twist. Will have to try this soon.

    And for a more cake-like soda bread (still baked in a cast iron skillet), try this fantastic, adaptable recipe from Melissa Clark. It’s one of my favorites! Not only have I made it many times as the recipe states, but at Thanksgiving I’ve also substituted cranberries for the raisins and added grated orange peel for a delicious breakfast/side bread. Plus, it keeps incredibly well.

    https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9255-skillet-irish-soda-bread-served-with-cheddar-and-apples

    Enjoy!

    Reply

  2. Thanks for sending, Tom! Love the idea of serving with apples and cheddar, and I love your cranberry-orange variation — so festive. Will definitely give this one a try soon. I’m on a soda bread kick right now… it comes together so quickly. Hope you are well!

    Reply

  4. This looks superb! Well done on adding the variety as well. Would love to try this soon.

    Reply

  5. I have to be honest – I have always heard of Irish Soda Bread but I didn’t really know what it was. Thank you for the history lesson!
    It looks really good. The only convincing I needed to try this was “takes about 5 minutes to mix up” and “ready to be slathered with butter…about an hour later.” 🙂
    Thank you for sharing! Have a great weekend!

    Reply

  6. Irish soda bread is essentially the only homemade bread I’ve ever made, as using baking soda for rise didn’t freak me out! Your version looks fantastic.

    Reply

    • Oh Gena, great to hear from you, and thank you! Now, how can we make this vegan? Coincidentally, I have been been spending a lot of time with Food52 Vegan again… itching to make that quinoa chili.

      Reply

      • Oh, I think it’s more than doable! We’d omit the egg, and for this recipe I don’t think we’d need to replace with a flax egg or Ener-G (you’d be surprised at how often I simply omit eggs rather than replacing them, especially with quickbreads). And for buttermilk, soy milk whisked vigorously with lemon or apple cider vinegar, which will work with the baking soda to create rise. Yum…

        Reply

  8. You must try Darina Allen’s soda bread recipes. And you would love her book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking.

    Reply

    • Thank you for the rec, Briana! Just found one of her soda bread recipes on the Kerrygold website — love how simple it sounds. Will give it a go, too. And thank you for the cookbook rec, too … you can never have too many 🙂

      Reply

  10. Hello! Thank you for the post! I have never made soda bread before, but so many people talk about it, I have seriously been thinking of making it lately. Thanks to this post, I’m going to! Also I love the picture with your kid’s hand in it. Definitely a shot that I have on my computer! 😀

    Reply

    • Yes, definitely! You will want to heat it up before serving. If you want to freeze it for toast, I would slice it before you freeze it. Wrap the slices or loaf well in plastic wrap or ziplock bags.

      Reply

  14. I have a 4th generation recipe that calls for butter and egg in the bread. That’s how I roll! Made muffins this year as the loaf is too much for the 2 of us, I should say me too eat!!

    Reply

  15. I just have to let you know that I made this last night and it was SO GOOD. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that my husband and I ate about 3/4 of it. I’m not surprised though, because everything I have ever made from your site has always been fantastic. I’ve been making your artisan bread in five for several years and it is always my go to. I love that this soda bread comes together so quickly too.

    Reply

    • Meghan, you are so sweet! Thank you for your kind words. I am so happy to hear you liked this one … I love how quickly it comes together, too 🙂

      Reply

  16. I made the whole wheat version last night and it was delicious! Both my husband and toddler loved it. Thanks for the inspiration for St. Paddies!

    Reply

  18. I really like this soda bread and its taste is awesome. Last night I just made it in my home and everyone like this. My mother suggested me to go for anncoojournal’s food blog & I just found some easy recipes on that.

    Reply

  20. Made this for St. Pats dinner. Easy recipe to follow. Turned out exactly as expected!! I contemplated buying a loaf from Whole Foods; I am so grateful that I made this bread instead. The children could not stop eating it & I have the perfect bread for corned beef sandwiches this afternoon!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  21. Made the soda bread and it was divine. First time in a cast iron skillet. This recipe is replacing my old stand by. I do have one question. It´s about the picture with the marmalade, Did you make it? I kept thinking about it while eating the bread. It looked so yummy. If you made it, where can I get the recipe? Awesome without it, but it looked heavenly.Thanks for great new favorite! Barb

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Barbara! So happy to hear this and so sorry for the delay 🙁 … I can’t keep up these days. The marmalade was a gift! I will see if I can get the recipe. Thanks for writing in!

      Reply

  22. I have been making Irish Soda bread for years. For a savory version I add snipped chives or chopped green onion, small cubed cheddar cheese along with parsley , caraway seeds, and basil. The cheese melts in little pockets. It’s one I use often. But will
    dry the sweeter versions now.
    Thanks.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  23. This bread is delicious and is very similar to the one I learned in school when I was a child growing up in Ireland. I love the idea of baking it in a skillet. Beautiful crust. When the nuns taught us to make this bread they told us to cut a cross in the bread to let the devil out. Maybe thats why it tastes so good. lol

    Reply

  24. I made the whole grain loaf for St.Patrick’s Day breakfast today and it was delicious. I like to sprinkle some wheat germ and sometimes some coarse sugar on my soda breads so today I did both. We enjoyed it with apple cider jelly, soft boiled eggs, fruit, and coffee. I think we might need to repeat this breakfast on another Sunday. My 12 year old son would agree. He devoured the bread!

    Reply

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