Made with buttermilk, this hearty Irish soda bread rises beautifully without yeast, delivering a crusty exterior and soft, tender crumb. Slice it up and serve it toasted, as sandwich bread, or dip a slice in your favorite soup.
Quick and Easy Irish Soda Bread with Buttermilk
No yeast needed in this buttermilk soda bread and you don’t even have to let it rise. Just form the dough into a round loaf and bake and you have wonderfully soft bread with a crusty exterior that is great for soup or chili nights but also makes a great grilled cheese.
If you haven’t tried soda bread before, it’s a quick bread with a dense texture but still manages to be light. There’s just nothing like homemade bread and biscuit recipes that you can prep in just a few minutes.
What’s magical about this rustic bread, and why it’s so popular, is that it only takes a few minutes to prepare, no kneading required, and it doesn’t have to rise. You just mix the ingredients and put it in the oven. It has a crusty exterior but soft interior.
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The magic happens when buttermilk reacts with baking soda, this causes it to rise without yeast. There are a lot of recipes out there for soda bread, but I like the combination of all purpose flour and cake flour in this version. It’s not as heavy as some recipes that I’ve tried.
Some folks make an Irish soda bread recipe with raisins, currants or caraway seeds, but I prefer a traditional Irish soda bread with buttermilk so that I can toast it and add butter and strawberry jam or soak up the sauce from short ribs.
This is the perfect addition to add to a brisket for St. Patrick’s Day.
Just a few Ingredients
- Flour – a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour give it a light texture. If you don’t have cake flour you can use 100% all-purpose flour and it will still turn out wonderful.
- Baking soda – since there’s no yeast you need baking soda to react with the buttermilk and act as a leavening agent.
- Buttermilk – it’s essential for this recipe, without it the bread won’t rise.
- Pantry items – cream of tartar, butter, sugar and salt. Adding a little sugar and butter, just two tablespoons of both, give it some flavor without making it sweet.
Pro tip: If you’re out of buttermilk, you can make your own with just two ingredients. Here are three different methods for how to make your own buttermilk.
How do you make this soda bread recipe
Step 1:
Stir the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Step 2:
Rub soft butter into the flour mixture and then add buttermilk, using a fork to combine.
Step 3:
Shape into a round ball and place in a cast-iron skillet. Cut a deep cross into the center with a sharp knife.
Step 4:
Bake for 4o minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing.
Tips for making buttermilk soda bread
- Don’t overwork the dough, it’s more like a biscuit than a yeast dough so just work the butter into the flour and mix it only until the flour is incorporated.
- Make sure you cut a deep cross on the top. This helps the bread cook in the center.
- Use a cast-iron skillet, it will give it the crust a crispy texture. You can make this without an iron skillet but you’ll need to adjust the cooking time, it cooks quicker in a cast-iron skillet.
Don’t think you have to be deprived of homemade bread just because you don’t have yeast. Not only is soda bread delicious but it only takes about 15 minutes to prepare, so you can make this for a weeknight dinner!
You’ll need to eat this up quickly or freeze what you can’t eat because it only stays fresh for about 3 days. It’s still great for toast after that, but it gets stale pretty quick.
If you like hearty yeast breads and have a bit more time, a soft honey oatmeal bread is great for breakfast.
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Homemade Irish Soda Bread with Buttermilk
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons butter room temp
- 1 ¾ cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, soda, cream of tartar and salt.
- Add soft butter to the flour mixture and rub it into the flour with your fingers until it is incorporated.
- Start by adding 1 ½ cups of the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Use a fork to combine until there is no more flour at the bottom of the bowl. Add additional buttermilk if needed.
- Place on a lightly floured surface and pat it into a 6 inch round.
- Place dough in a 12 inch cast-iron skillet. Cut a cross on the top, 5 inches long and ¾ inch deep.
- Bake until golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately brush with a tablespoon of butter. Let cool for 30 minutes before slices.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- If making on a baking sheet, increase the cooking time.
- If you don’t have cake flour, you can use all purpose flour.
Nutrition
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