Irish Soda Bread

Easy traditional Irish soda bread, no yeast or kneading, simple ingredients mixed in a bowl. Serve warm with lots of butter!

Course Bread

Cuisine Irish

Keyword irish soda bread, raisin bread, soda bread

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings slices

Calories 259kcal

Author Kelly Wildenhaus | the hungry bluebird

Preheat oven to 425º. Sift dry ingredients -- flour, sugar, salt and baking soda -- into a large bowl.
Use a pastry cutter or your fingertips to mix butter into flour mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins.
Make a well in center of flour mixture and add the egg and buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to mix the dough until just combined and difficult to stir. Dust your clean hands with a little flour and gently knead the dough just until it forms a rough ball. Transfer to a floured board and shape into a round ball with your hands.
Transfer round dough to a lightly greased baking sheet. With a serrated knife, cut a ½-inch deep cross on top of dough. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, until golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool briefly on a wire rack. Serve bread warm, sliced or toasted, with butter!

For the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, try cranberry orange soda bread. Swap out the raisins for dried cranberries and add the zest of one orange.
Soda bread freezes beautifully, just wrap tightly in a freezer bag.
Serve with lots of butter, maybe some jam, too. Any leftovers are great toasted for breakfast the next day.