How to make Irish Soda Bread
Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees F. Then, whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add your raisins and caraway seeds and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients then add them to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. FYI: the dough is very sticky and that is normal. You can add a little flour to your hands or counter top to help with the stickiness.
Sprinkle a board or counter top with flour and knead the dough gently while gathering the flour into the dough. You are only kneading the dough a couple of minutes to bring the dough together.
Bake your loaf for about an hour until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the bread cool on a cooling rack before cutting and serving.
Looking for some great toppings or spreads for the bread? Here are some of my favorite toppings and I often serve the soda bread with these on the side.
. Kerry Gold Butter
. Homemade Sugar-Free Raspberry Jam
. Orange Marmalade
. Whipped Ricotta Cheese
. Cream Cheese
Note that this is true “bread recipe”. It is slightly dry (just the way traditional Irish soda bread should be). It is great when toasted and isn’t very sweet. I’ve found that a lot of commercially sold Irish Soda Breads are very sweet and more like cake. That is why I was so happy to add my BFF’s recipe to my blog. The Lyons-Dooley Irish Soda Bread is much sweeter than this recipes and definitely falls more into the dessert/cake category. Did I mention, it is absolutely delicious. So try that one too.
If you like this recipe, be sure to try my Traditional Irish Barmbrack Bread too. This is a fruited, spice loaf of bread that is more cake-like and absolutely delicious. It also comes with a great story, some Irish folklore, and if made the traditional way, little “surprises” baked inside. Check out the recipe to read more.
Did you like this recipe? If so, please leave a rating and comment below. Looking for other Irish recipes? Try some of these:
Smoked Irish Salmon Chive Pancakes
Irish Soda Bread
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ Cups All-purpose flour plus an additional ¼ cup of all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1 Tsp. Baking powder
- ½ Tsp. Baking soda
- ¾ Tsp. Salt
- 2/3 Cup Raisins
- 1 Tbsp. Caraway seeds
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- Cooking Spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with the shelf rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 ¾ flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then, stir in the raisins and caraway seeds.
- In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk and eggs. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until just combined (don’t over mix). This dough is very, very sticky but that is the way it is supposed to be.
- Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of flour on a board. Put the dough onto the floured board and begin gently kneading the dough and gathering the flour on the board into the dough.
- Shape the dough into a circle and cut a deep cross into the top of the bread round.
- Bake the loaf for about one hour. Test the center of the loaf with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the bread is done. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and allow to cool. Slice the bread and serve with butter and/or jam. I love to serve this with a homemade jam and Kerry Gold butter (just to keep that Irish vibe going).
