Simply Incredible Irish Soda Bread and has been in my repertoire for many years now. Easy to make, foolproof and delicious. Family and guests rave about it and I’ve never looked elsewhere when creating this traditional quick bread. It’s hearty but moist. The inside is almost creamy and the crust is perfectly crunchy. Use real buttermilk and I highly recommend the raisins, though you could use currants if you like.
Just a few ingredients are necessary and the most important here – real buttermilk and raisins. The contrast of sour and sweet is perfectly balanced within the dense slices that my family loves.
The rough dough gets turned out, quickly kneaded, flattened and slashed before going in the oven for about 40 minutes. And then…
Doesn’t this look perfectly rustic? And perfectly Irish?
Serve it on St. Patrick’s Day with your favorite Irish Stew or Corned Beef Brisket. Actually, make it any time of year. This bread is great with any hearty breakfast, soup or stew or roast beef dinner.
A nice helping of creamy butter is all you need and leftovers are amazing with hot coffee or tea.
Trust me and give this simply incredible Irish Soda Bread a try. This is one recipe where simple is simply perfect. No blarney… 😉
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 1/2 cup fresh buttermilk I have only used real buttermilk here, so cannot speak to whether buttermilk substitute will be sufficient.
- Pre-heat oven to 350F degrees. Place parchment on a baking sheet, or lightly grease and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, place all dry ingredients in the order listed. Add the raisins and give everything a quick whisk.
- Add all 1 1/2 cup buttermilk and on low speed, mix until it forms a soft dough, about 30 seconds. You can do this by hand if you like. There will/may be some dry ingredients and possibly a few raisins that just won't mix in. That is fine.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it's a smooth ball, only another 20-30 seconds.
- Place the ball of dough onto the baking sheet and press to spread and flatten the dough. Slash the top with a sharp knife. Pat the top with some of the excess flour. This will give the bread a nice rustic finish.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until bread is just golden.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.
- Serve with softened butter.
Super good tasty bread. I put in two cups of raisins because I like it decadent and forgot the salt but didn’t miss it. Thank you
I like a lot of raisins in mine too!
Delicious flavor and the least dry soda bread I’ve ever had! BUT my dough came out much much wetter than yours looks in the photo. In fact, I couldn’t really knead it at all. I made 3 batches and they all came out that way. The baked loaves are very large and rather flat – sort of like round focaccia – but very tasty.
Anna, well I’m glad it was not dry and it was good but that is weird that it was so wet and flat. I’ve made this recipe for years and never felt that. I’m actually just about to make it for our dinner and I’ll check back with you.
Hmmmm, you are right! Let me do some research over the week and I’ll find out where my error is.