Simple White Irish Soda Bread Recipe With Video | Bigger Bolder Baking (2025)

FAQs

Is there a difference between soda bread and Irish soda bread? ›

Sweeter Soda Bread

On this side of the Atlantic, what we call "Irish soda bread" is more rich and sweet, usually studded with raisins and caraway seeds.

The whole purpose of kneading bread dough is to form a network of gluten fibers. However, in soda bread where gluten is not needed, these filaments just make the bread tough. To avoid chewy bread, chose a low-protein (and therefore low-gluten) flour.

The best Irish soda bread, like this recipe, has a golden brown crust with a dense, tight crumb. The bread isn't heavy, it's actually quite tender and soft inside. The crust is nice and crisp when it comes out of the oven and becomes a little chewy on day 2 and 3. It's so good.

Don't Knead!

If you feel like you have to knead the dough together, don't knead more than 5-6 times, max. 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.

Nutrition Notes

Whole-wheat soda bread is a healthy addition to your plate! One serving—a 1/2-inch-thick slice—provides complex carbohydrates for sustained energy, protein, fiber, and vitamins and minerals.

"Soda bread is traditionally made using wholemeal flour and often contains a fair amount of oats, which are fibre-rich so good for our digestion and to help balance blood cholesterol." Do check the label though, since it can be higher in salt than many breads and some brands contain added sugar.

Your Bread Doesn't Have Enough Gluten

Once these proteins become moist, they create stretchy molecules that give bread dough its elasticity. Gluten helps bread maintain shape and produces the "crumb" (or texture). If your bread does not have enough gluten, the crumb will not come out as expected.

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.

Tightly wrap your leftover bread and place it in an airtight container. There's no need to refrigerate. As for how long soda bread lasts: Irish soda bread tends to dry out faster than other breads. The bread will be good for 3-4 days or up to three months if frozen.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Does baking soda make bread fluffier? ›

Baking soda becomes activated when it's combined with both an acidic ingredient and a liquid. Upon activation, carbon dioxide is produced, which allows baked goods to rise and become light and fluffy (1).

Other Tips for Baking the Perfect Irish Soda Bread

Do not knead the dough. Handle the dough just enough to form into a ball, then a loaf. Over-handling the dough will make the bread tough.

Irish soda bread has a couple of other names, too: When we attended a class at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, they made this loaf and called it a Spotted Dog. It's also called white soda bread, American Irish soda bread, or fruit soda bread.

In many ways it resembles a scone, another example of a baked good that doesn't use yeast. It has a similar flavor to a scone, thanks to the baking soda. Though it can be made plain, soda bread's flavor is usually defined by what is added to it. Caraway seeds are a very common soda bread ingredient.

Bread soda is also known as bicarbonate of soda and baking soda. Helpful hints in the kitchen A good substitute for buttermilk, if you need sour milk in a recipe, add 1/2 teaspoon of Shamrock Brea...

It's important to remember no to overmix your ingredients. Irish Soda Bread is a dense bread, similar to a scone, but can easily become dry if overmixed. Quickly add the wet ingredients to a well you've made in the dry ingredients, and mix with your hands or a dough hook until it just comes together.