A slightly sweet, moist and tasty Irish Soda Bread that has been our family favorite for years!
I’m quite sure that my favorite part of St. Patty’s Day is the Irish Soda Bread
Mary, my Mom, made this recipe not only to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but all year long. We ate it for breakfast… with lunch… after dinner as cake
It’s a recipe passed down through her family and I’m proud to share it here!
Wait, is it cake or bread? Who knows. Who cares. It’s slightly sweet, moist and wonderful. Just eat it whenever you feel like it
Let’s begin with our dry ingredients
Assemble 3 cups of sifted flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon & 1/4 teaspoon of salt
You can sift the flour through a fine sieve or you can whisk the measured flour to incorporate air. That’s really the purpose of sifting
Pour all of the dry ingredients into a mixer and blend to combine
Once the dry ingredients are combined, make a small well in the center and start to add in your wet ingredients
You’ll need one cup of buttermilk, 1 egg, lightly beaten and one stick of butter that has been melted and cooled a bit
For an easy and less expensive buttermilk, check out Show Me how to make Homemade Buttermilk
Add the wet ingredients in one at a time and beat just until incorporated. You don’t want to over beat the mixture as it will make the end product dense
Right now, just stop and smell the batter
You have to love a batter that smells this good before it’s even cooked
And there’s a raw egg so it’s not appropriate to eat the batter, but if you happened to get a speck on your finger and lick it off, you’d say, “wow, if it’s this good raw… what on earth will it taste like cooked??!!”
While we’re taking this commercial break, let’s take a look at some of our other Irish inspired favorites:
Instant Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage
Now here may be the controversial part. My Mom and probably every other good Irish cook makes soda bread with raisins
I have an aversion to raisins and I fully believe I’ve imparted this upon my family
And without guilt, I replace the raisins with cranberry raisins
One cup of them to be exact. Just stir them in until mixed and then that’s that
No extra mixing! (As previously stated)
I should mention, that you’ll need your oven to be preheated to 375 degrees and you should have a pan prepared with some cooking spray to avoid sticking. You’ll want this delicious bread (cake) on your plate and not the sides of your pan
I’ve used a small cast iron pan, but a cake pan will work just as well (so does that mean it’s cake??)
Place your soda bread in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Remove from oven, cut a cross in the bread, brush with egg white and sprinkle with sanding sugar
Return to a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Check the doneness after 30 minutes with a knife or cake tester – the cake is done if the tester comes out clean
Best part about this cake (bread?) is that you don’t even have to wait until it cools off
Delicious enough to stand up by itself, but happy to have a pat of butter slathered on it while it’s still warm… mmm
Enjoy!
Irish Soda Bread
Equipment
- Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour sifted
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup butter melted, then cooled
- 1 cup craisins (or raisins)
- Egg white for wash beaten
- sanding sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Sift 3 cups of flour through a fine sieve or whisk to incorporate air
- Add all dry ingredients to bowl of mixer, and mix until combined.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add buttermilk, stir a few times, and repeat with the egg and butter. Do not overmix.
- Add in the craisins, give a few stirs and put batter into a cake pan prepared with cooking spray
- Bake on 375 degrees for 10 minutes, remove from oven and lower to 350 degrees.
- Cut cross in top of soda bread, brush with egg white and sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired
- Bake at 350 for 30 – 35 minutes, removing as soon as a cake tester or knife comes out clean
Tools used to make this recipe
KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Pyrex Prepware 2-Cup Glass Measuring Cup
Lodge L8SK3 Cast Iron Skillet, Pre-Seasoned, 10.25-inch
© Simply Sundays 2017
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Love this recipe! Mary gave it to me, but I did not have buttermilk, so I used kefir. Came out pretty good too. How about chocolate covered craisins? ;-p
Oh, now you’re bringing it to a new level! 🙂
Yum! I think I just might have to try this with the dried cranberries! Question: What is sanding sugar?
Sanding sugar is a large crystal sugar that is usually put on cookies, cakes, muffins etc. right before baking. Unlike regular white sugar, sanding sugar doesn’t melt, so it gives a nice shine and a little sweet crunch. You can usually find it in the baking section at the grocery store or large craft stores, like Michaels. It’s optional in this recipe, but if you like a little extra “sweet”, you might like it! Let us know if you try it out!