Irish Soda Bread
A rustic, crusty round loaf with a soft, tender crumb, made in minutes with flour, buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda — no yeast, no kneading and no rising. Marked with a deep cross and best eaten warm with butter.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) and dust a baking tray with a little flour.
- a little, for dusting white flour
✅ Done when: oven is fully preheated to 220°C
Mix the dry ingredients
Sift the white flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the wholemeal flour. Make a hole in the middle.
- 250g white flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g wholemeal flour
✅ Done when: ingredients are evenly combined with a hollow in the center
Add the buttermilk
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Shape
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Cut a cross and bake
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Cool
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Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) and dust a baking tray with a little flour.
- a little, for dusting white flour
✅ Done when: oven is fully preheated to 220°C
Mix the dry ingredients
Sift the white flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the wholemeal flour. Make a hole in the middle.
- 250g white flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g wholemeal flour
✅ Done when: ingredients are evenly combined with a hollow in the center
Add the buttermilk
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Shape
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Cut a cross and bake
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Cool
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The Story Behind the Dish
Bicarbonate of soda reached Ireland in the early 19th century, and it was perfect for Irish conditions: the country's soft wheat doesn't make good yeasted bread, but rises well with soda and the buttermilk left over from butter-making.
Soda bread could be baked quickly in a cast-iron pot over an open fire, and it became the daily bread of rural Irish homes.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It's one of the easiest breads in the world to make, ready from bowl to oven in about ten minutes.
💡 Fun Fact
Folklore says the cross is cut 'to let the fairies out' — in practice it helps the thick centre of the loaf bake through.
Ireland
53.35°N, -6.26°W
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