The Ultimate Guide to Make True Irish Soda Bread

• Ingredients List
• Step-by-Step Instructions
  • Step 1: Preheat Your Oven
  • Step 2: Mix the Dry Ingredients
  • Step 3: Cut the Butter In
  • Step 4: Add the Buttermilk and Form the Dough
  • Step 5: Shape the Loaf
  • Step 6: Score the Top
  • Step 7: Bake to Golden Perfection
  • Step 8: Cool the Bread
• Mistakes to Avoid
• Tips for Perfect Results

Ingredients List

Using only a few, quality, traditional ingredients, this recipe is unbeatable.

• All-Purpose Flour: 4 cups (about 500 g)
• Baking Soda: 1 teaspoon
• Salt: 1 teaspoon
• Granulated Sugar: 1 tablespoon (optional)
• Cold unsalted butter: 4 tablespoons (half a stick or 57 g), cut into small cubes
• Buttermilk: 1 3/4 cups (420 ml), cold
• Optional Add-ins: 1 cup of raisins or currants for traditional "spotted dog" version

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Preheat Your Oven

At the outset, let us prepare the oven. Warm it up to 400°F (200°C). A hot oven is key to getting proper spring and great crust because of temperature differences in the dough. When the oven heats up, manage your baking space. A big cast-iron skillet, a Dutch oven, or a baking sheet (lined with parchment) should do the trick. Rimming the surface with a little flour can help avoid sticking and give your loaf an attractive rustic underbelly.

Step 2: Mix the Dry Ingredients

In one large bowl, stir together the 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt, and, if you want a sweeter loaf, 1 tablespoon of sugar. Use your whisk to mix all ingredients thoroughly. These amounts are important because you want to make sure your baking soda is spread evenly throughout the flour. This will ensure an even rise, so there will be no uneven areas in the dough. If you are making a sweet version, add your raisins or currants now.

Step 3: Cut the Butter In

Now put the cold cubes of butter into the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour quickly. You want to bring out a texture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs. There should still be some small, pea-sized lumps of butter left in the mix. When baked, these little pockets of butter will melt and provide a delightfully soft crumb. The important thing here is to work fast and keep the butter cold. If it melts into your flour, you'll end up with something heavy.

Step 4: Add the Buttermilk and Form the Dough

Make a well in the center of the mixture of flour and butter. Pour all at once the 1 ¾ cups cold buttermilk. With a wooden spoon or spatula, carefully stir the wet and dry ingredients together until a shaggy, sticky dough just begins to form. Don’t stir too much! This is the first and most important principle of soda bread. Overworking the dough creates gluten, which will make your loaf tough, not tender. The dough will look messy and unpromising at this point, but don’t worry—that’s just what you want.

Step 5: Shape the Loaf

Lightly flour a clean work surface, then turn out the sticky dough from the bowl. With floured hands, bring the dough quickly and gently together into a rough ball. Handle it as little as possible, molding the dough into a cohesive round loaf about 6 to 7 inches in diameter. Do not knead! Just pat and shape the dough. It should feel soft rather than dry—and slightly sticky. Place your shaped loaf onto your prepared pan or baking sheet.

Step 6: Score the Top

With a sharp knife, cut a deep cross on the top of the loaf that goes about halfway down through all the dough's depth. It's not just for looks; this has a traditional purpose. The cross lets the heat reach the center of the dense loaf, ensuring it bakes evenly. Additionally, according to Irish folklore, fairies can get out through it! This cut helps the loaf puff up during baking and prevents its crust from randomly splitting.

Step 7: Bake to Golden Perfection

Put the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. For doneness, just look at that deep golden crust. If you are using a meat thermometer to test for doneness, the internal temperature should be approximately 190-200°F. Then you'll be rewarded with the amazing smell of freshly baked bread—warm, buttery, slightly tangy, and just superb.

Step 8: Cool the Bread

Remove the loaf from the pan as soon as it is baked and transfer it to a wire rack to cool. Though it’s tempting to slice right into a loaf hot from the oven, give it at least 20 or 30 minutes. This allows the internal structure to set and gives cooler bread slices better texture and keeping qualities. For a soft crust, wrap the hot loaf in a clean kitchen towel while it cools. For a deep crust, you can leave it open on the rack.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Overworking the Dough: This is the number one mistake. When you mix the buttermilk with the flour, the acidic buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, an alkali (base), producing carbon dioxide gas to leaven the bread. Overmix or knead your dough and you'll knock out these precious air pockets. Too much gluten forms, giving you a brick-like loaf that can't be eaten. Mix just until the ingredients are barely combined. The dough should be shaggy.
• Using Warm Ingredients: Always use cold butter and cold buttermilk. The butter creates steam pockets as it bakes, which results in a flakier crumb. Though the chemical reaction between baking soda and buttermilk begins at once, cold temperatures slow it down. With too warm buttermilk, the reaction happens too fast, and the bread won’t rise properly in the oven.
• Not Scoring Deeply Enough: Be sure to score deeply enough. The cross on top needs to be deep enough for the center of the bread to cook through. You want to cut halfway into the dough so it bakes evenly and gives you that classic shape.

Tips for Perfect Results

• Make Your Own Buttermilk: No buttermilk at hand? No problem. Simply make a quick and easy substitute by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup, then filling it up with whole milk to the 1 ¾ cup line. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes until it curdles a little.
• Add To Your Bread: Feel free to be creative. For a savory version, fold in 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese and some chopped chives. Alternatively, for a fiery texture, mix in a half-cup of toasted walnuts or pecans. A tablespoon of caraway seeds will also lend a pleasant taste, traditional and redolent of the old country.
• Serving Tips: This bread is best served warm. A thick slice spread with salted Irish butter is classic and perfect. It also goes well with soups, stews, and chili. Try it toasted with honey or your favorite marmalade at breakfast.