“Flour, salt, baking soda, buttermilk – anything else is tea cake.”I visited Ireland a few years ago and I remember a pub owner telling me this when I asked for the recipe for his delicious soda bread. You can find a thousand recipes for Authentic Irish Soda Bread, but if it varies from these 4 basic ingredients, it’s not the real thing. And you wouldn’t want the fae gettin’ all up in your business about that, now would ye?
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time45 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Irish
Keyword: Authentic Irish Soda Bread
Servings: 8Servings
Author: Don Herman
Ingredients
4cupsFlourI recommend pastry flour rather than all-purpose. Traditional Irish wheat is soft, and pastry flour will mimic this better.
1 1/2tspBaking soda
1 1/2tspSalt
1 to 1 3/4cupsButtermilk or sour milk. The liquid required will be determined by the flour choice. If you use whole wheat you’ll need more liquid than the 1 cup.
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat sheet, or brush the sheet with melted butter or spray with non-stick spray.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Gradually stir in 1 cup buttermilk, mixing gently with your fingers until dough is firm enough to be gathered into a ball. If dough crumbles, add more liquid 1 tbsp at a time, just until it holds together. Avoid kneading the bread! The less you handle it, the better!
Place on a lightly floured board and pat into an 8-inch flattened round loaf. It will look a bit rough. It’s supposed to.
Place the loaf on baking sheet and slash a 1/2-inch deep “X” into the top of the dough with a sharp knife.
Bake at 425 degrees F for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden.
Notes
Serve warm with Irish Stew or Corned Beef and Cabbage. Sláinte!For a good video that shows how you form and mark the loaf, click here.