Crusty and slightly buttery Irish soda bread is my go-to bread recipe when I want bread on the table ASAP but don't have time to wait for a yeasted dough to rise. It takes about 5 minutes to mix the dough, then it's into the oven and ready in less than an hour, easy-peasy. I make my soda bread without currants, but I have included them as an option in case you want to add them!
I always associate soda bread with St. Patrick's Day here in the States, but it's honestly such a great easy bread option all year round. It's fast because there's no rise time, and it can skew sweet or savory depending on what you pair it with.
This is the full-size version of the small-batch soda bread recipe in my cookbook Small-Batch-Breads: 50 Recipes for Loaves, Buns, and Flatbreads Made with One Cup of Flour with a few minor changes.
Where the recipe in my book uses an egg, I found that when I scaled the recipe up, the eggs were too eggy. So I nixed the egg and scaled up the amount of butter and buttermilk to replace it. I also changed the way the butter is incorporated (borrowing techniques from biscuit recipes) to help give the heavier weight of the full-size loaf a little more rising power.
What Makes Soda Bread *Work*?
Baking soda needs to be combined with something acidic to activate (otherwise it just hangs out in the dough and tastes like soap), which is why buttermilk is often the preferred liquid for making soda bread. When the baking soda activates, it produces carbon dioxide which creates bubbles in the bread.
The fat and acid in the buttermilk also helps tenderize the soda bread, so it's not dry and crumbly (or at least not any more dry and crumbly than soda bread should be).
The baking soda and buttermilk also give soda bread a strong, tangy flavor and a dense-yet-bubbly, slightly spongy texture with a thick crust that is perfect for tearing into chunks for sopping up stews or cutting into thick slices for butter and jam.
Though not super traditional, I add a bit (okay, a lot) of unsalted butter to my Irish soda bread for flavor and tenderness. I add the butter in two ways: A portion of the butter is grated cold and tossed with the dry ingredients, while the rest goes in melted as a liquid ingredient to add moisture. The cold, grated butter gives a fluffy, almost biscuit-like texture to the soda bread that is just amazing.
Just like in a biscuit recipe, the cold butter turns to steam in the oven, which creates pockets of air in the dough for a perfectly fluffy texture.
Bake in a Cast Iron Skillet
Baking soda bread in a cast iron pan helps insulate the bottom of the bread so it doesn't turn out too thick and hard. Cast iron heats slowly but retains heat very well, so when you put it in the oven, the bottom of the bread won't bake too quickly.
Soda bread is a crusty bread with a very thick crust by nature, and I found that if I baked it on a regular sheet pan, the bottom crust was so thick it was basically impenetrable. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, a cast iron Dutch oven will work!
I usually dust the outside with flour before scoring and baking, but you can also brush it with more melted butter if you prefer. Sometimes I brush it with a little melted butter when it's still hot out of the oven; the butter soaks into the soda bread and gives a really lovely buttery flavor!
Soda bread is fantastic enjoyed warm out of the oven but you do want to give it at least a few minutes to cool so the starches can set before you cut into it!
To currant or not to currant?
I had real decision paralysis when writing this recipe about whether or not to include currants. The currants traditionally found in Irish soda bread are Zante currants, and if you've never had one, they're like smaller, less sweet raisins. I am generally team no-raisins-in-baked goods, so I was surprised by just how much I liked the little pops of sweetness the currants brought to the tangy, salty soda bread. I am not mad about currants in Irish soda bread.
I tested this recipe with and without currants and think it's great both ways, but ultimately I left it up to The Practical Kitchen readers, who voted for no currants. Add them if you wish; I leave the choice to you.
💭 Have More Baking Questions?
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- Ingredient swaps and FAQs
- Why my recipes are written in grams and not cups
- How to quickly bring eggs and butter to room temperature
- Ingredients I use (salt, flour, yeast, etc.)
- Step-by-step guides for bread and baking techniques
See my baking techniques & troubleshooting guide and ingredient swaps and FAQs for more!
📖 Recipe
Quick Irish Soda Bread with Buttermilk
Recipe Notes
- This recipe uses 113g of butter total. If you're in America, that's one stick (½ cup/8 tablespoons/4 oz).
- Using the 2x/3x buttons only changes the ingredient quantities to the left of the ingredients list. The amounts given in the recipe or to the right of the ingredients list will not change automatically; you will have to do that math yourself.
- Baking soda only stays good for about 6 months, after that it starts losing potency. Make sure yours is fresh for best results!
- If you don't have buttermilk, you can use 6 tablespoons of buttermilk powder and replace the buttermilk with milk (Note: I have not tested this swap with non-dairy milk alternatives). You may need to add more flour or milk to get the dough to the right texture: more milk if the dough is dry, more flour if the dough is too wet.
Ingredients
- 480 grams all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
- 15 grams diamond crystal kosher salt
- 12 grams baking soda
- 10 grams sugar
- 380 grams buttermilk (cold from the fridge)
- 70 grams unsalted butter, cold from the fridge (5 tablespoons)
- 43 grams unsalted butter, melted (3 tablespoons)
- 75 grams currants (optional)
For the pan
- 7 grams unsalted butter (½ tablespoon, melted)
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the bottom of a cast iron skillet with a thin layer of melted butter; set aside.
- Mix. Whisk flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda (and currants, if using) together in a medium mixing bowl. Grate 70g of the cold butter into the middle of the bowl on the large holes of a grater. Melt the remaining 43g of butter in a small bowl. Use a dough whisk to stir the grated butter into the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in the cold buttermilk, followed by the melted butter. Stir with a dough whisk until a sticky, messy dough forms. It's okay if there are still some loose bits of flour and dry patches. Switch to a bowl scraper and fold the dough over itself a few times in the bowl until it comes together, though it might still look dry.
- Knead. Turn the lumpy dough onto a lightly floured counter. Knead briefly with a gentle touch, just enough to bring the dough together in one mass. The dough is stickier than it looks, so dust your hands with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Some dough may cling to your hands as you work, that's fine.
- Shape. Shape the dough into a ball by cupping your hands around it, almost like you're packing a snowball. Again, dust with flour as needed to prevent sticking. If there are any large cracks or shingled pieces of dough on the top, try to get them tucked inside the dough ball. Dust the top lightly with flour, then place the dough in the middle of the prepared cast iron skillet.
- Score. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' about ¼-½" deep across the top of the loaf. Optional: Brush with any excess melted butter from when you buttered the pan before baking.
- Bake. Bake until deep golden brown on top, and a thermometer inserted deep into the center reaches 190°F, 40-45 minutes. Let the soda bread cool in the pan on a wire rack, then remove it to the wire rack to finish cooling. Soda bread is wonderful slightly warm or toasted!
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