St. Patrick's Day Irish Soda Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Irish bread and Irish soda bread? ›

However, the two loaves differ pretty significantly from there. Irish brown bread has a deep, nutty flavor because of its wheat flour and wheat bran while soda bread uses only white flour. Soda bread is slightly sweet and more scone-like while Irish brown bread is more savory with a tender interior.

Containing just four ingredients — all-purpose wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk — this Irish soda bread recipe is very much in line with what's eaten in Ireland. In addition to this version made with white flour, the Irish do make a whole wheat (aka wholemeal) variety as well.

Too much kneading will create a hard dense crumb on the bread. Rule of thumb with no yeast breads, the less kneading the softer the crumb. Score the bread. This is an important step to helping to ensure that the center is cooked.

I was always told that the cross on the top of Irish Soda Bread was to symbolize the Catholic faith of Ireland, and the Gaelic Cross. Some say it kept the Devil out, but that is what a cross is supposed to do also. Turns out that is true but more importantly, it helps in the baking of the bread.

He explained that in some regions of Ireland, they might add dried fruit to soda bread on special occasions only. Throughout much of Irish history, dried fruit would have been considered a luxury item. Irish cooks would only be able to add raisins when they had raisins to spare, which would have been a rare occurrence.

Each country has its “national” bread with recipes dating back to their forefathers. Ireland, for one, has embraced it's kind of bread – the soda bread. It is a basic staple among the Irish that they call it Irish Soda Bread. It's common to see the locals pair this famous bread with a bottle of Guinness too.

Many Irish families also lived in isolated farm areas with no access to ovens, and soda bread solved this problem too. The bread was cooked in three-legged iron pots or baked on griddles over open hearths. This gave the bread its famous hard crust, dense texture, and slightly sour tang.

A unique cooking method that gave soda bread its dense texture, hard crust, and slight sourness. Despite its humble beginnings, Irish soda bread has become a large part of the typical St. Patrick's Day feast and plays a major role in Ireland's culinary history.

In the final analysis, soda bread is just a dense quick bread like banana bread, and dense quick breads should be cooked to 200–205°F (93–96°C), an internal temperature that assures that enough water has been absorbed or cooked out so that it is no longer soggy, but not so hot that the crumb dries out.

The most traditional doneness test calls for thumping the hot bread in the center to hear if it's hollow-sounding. A more foolproof indication is temperature; the loaf will register 200°F to 205°F when an instant-read thermometer is inserted in the center of the bread. Let the bread cool.

Can you over knead Irish soda bread? ›

You spent too much time kneading the dough. Baking soda starts to react and release its gas as soon as it comes into contact with the sour milk. Take too long and the gas will escape before the bread is baked. Kneading will also cause chewy gluten to form.

Your Bread Did Not Cool Before Slicing

The primary reason for this is that the bread is still baking inside. The crust has trapped enough steam inside the loaf to continue working magic and create a great crumb. If you let that steam out too soon, the loaf will be drier.

Let your dough rise enough before baking it

If the dough doesn't fill out with gas, perhaps because it hasn't had time to rise properly, the inside of the loaf will remain soggy and dense as the dough won't bake properly. You should therefore leave plenty of time for your dough to rise.

Your dough can become sticky when you add too much water or the flour isn't suitable for the type of dough you are making. Over proofing or fermenting the dough can also result in the gluten structure weakening causing sticky dough.

Irish soda bread is a type of quick bread that relies on baking soda, not yeast, to rise. The bread contains buttermilk, which contains lactic acid. The acid reacts with the baking soda to create air bubbles, resulting in a perfectly risen dough.

Sourdough bread contains higher levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than other breads. It also contains lower levels of phytate and therefore allows your body to absorb the nutrients it contains more easily than those in regular bread.

“Irish soda bread is rich in fibre and has some probiotics from the kefir, although they are not likely to survive the heat of the oven. Flour made from a whole grain is rich in minerals and vitamins, especially B-vitamins including folate, which we need for energy production and cell health among other things."

The baking soda does the job of yeast and makes the bread rise. Since it's not as powerful as yeast, the bread is dense rather than fluffy. It's beautiful and delicious!

Contrary to a common misconceptions, the Irish did not import the Soda Bread recipe from the American Indians. This misconception is my fault because 30+ years ago on the original site I happened to mention Native Americans using Potash to make bread.