Delicious Irish Soda Bread

If you’re looking for a delicious and easy bread to make that doesn’t require any yeast, it looks like you’ve found it. I make this bread to go with whatever main dish I choose on St. Patrick's Day, as well. We never have any left and they always want me to make it more often than I do. I could, but it's always fun for me to have those ‘once in a while' meals and I enjoy the treat.

Irish soda bread requires just a few simple ingredients and the baking process is straightforward. Even if you struggle with baking, like I do, you should have great success with this recipe.

The bread tastes best warm with a little butter melted on top. It goes great with Irish potato soup, too. I'll share that recipe tomorrow.

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour (all-purpose or whole wheat, both work great)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup softened butter
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg

Ingredients for Bread Topping:

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients including the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add the softened butter and continue to mix. Using a pastry cutter makes the process of cutting in the butter and other wet ingredients much easier.

Once the butter is distributed throughout the flour, add the buttermilk and egg, continuing to work with the pastry cutter. Once, the ingredients are well mixed, start working the dough with your hands and knead it into a round-shaped loaf.

Place the loaf on a non-stick baking surface. Cut a + sign in the top of the bread, just scoring the top slightly.

At this point, you can combine the 3 tablespoons of butter and buttermilk to form a topping for the bread. Using a pastry brush, brush the mixture all over the loaf.

Now it’s time to put the loaf in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 50 minutes. You can tell when it’s done when it’s nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly, but do try to enjoy it warm. It’s delicious!

Delicious Irish Soda Bread

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

50

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

A delicious traditional Irish bread

Ingredients

• 4 C flour (all purpose or whole wheat, both work great)

• 1/4 C Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Soda

• 1 TBSP Baking Powder

• 1/4 tsp Salt

• 1/2 C Butter, softened

• 1 C Buttermilk

• 1 large Egg

• Bread Topping

• 3 TBSP Butter, melted

• 3 TBSP Buttermilk

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients including the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• Add the softened butter and continue to mix. Using a pastry cutter makes the process of cutting in the butter and other wet ingredients much easier.
• Once the butter is distributed throughout the flour, add the buttermilk and egg, continuing to work with the pastry cutter.
• Once, the ingredients are well mixed, start working the dough with your hands and knead it into a round-shaped loaf.
• Place the loaf on a non-stick baking surface.
• Combine the 3 tablespoons of butter and buttermilk to form a topping for the bread. Using a pastry brush, brush the mixture all over the loaf.
• Bake for about 50 minutes. You can tell when it’s done when it’s nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Allow to cool slightly

Notes

• If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can easily make it by combining whole or 2-percent milk and fresh lemon juice or white distilled vinegar. For every 1 Cup milk, add 1 TBSP lemon juice or vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes. The acid in the lemon juice/vinegar will curdle the milk slightly and make it a suitable replacement for buttermilk