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St. Patrick’s Day dinner doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming. My Simple Irish Soda Bread is ready in 45 minutes.
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SIMPLE IRISH SODA BREAD
I love St. Patrick’s Day! I’m Irish…if you couldn’t tell by my last name of O’Neal. I have Irish in my heritage and I married into an Irish family, so St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday for us and we never miss a chance to celebrate. Mind you, we have totally American-ized our festivities, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun!
Irish Soda Bread is easy and simple to make. In fact, it’s ready from start to finish in about 45 minutes. It’s a dense loaf of bread with a bit of tangy flavor and a hard crust. My daughter says it’s the Irish version of sourdough bread and I think she’s right.
My family prefers our soda bread without raisins or currants, so that’s the way we’ve always made it. However, give it a try and see which way you like it. You never know, you might prefer it with them added.
I’ve also made gluten free Irish Soda Bread on occasion and it’s pretty good as well. Both end up very rustic and knobby looking, but that’s the charm of this loaf of Simple Irish Soda Bread.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY DINNER
While most of my family loves corned beef and cabbage, not everyone in the family does so I’ve added some Grilled Chicken to our traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner and it makes everyone happy. I do like to make my corned beef from scratch. It takes about 7 days and a word of caution once you make your own from scratch you’ll never buy store bought corned beef again.
SIMPLE IRISH RECIPES FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY SUPPER:
Corned Beef & Cabbage
Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Oven Roasted Asparagus or Broccoli
Irish Soda Bread (I also make gluten free Irish Soda Bread)
Chocolate Mint Trifle dessert
How to Make Irish Soda Bread with Raisins
Traditional Irish soda bread isn’t made with raisins or currants, but that doesn’t mean you can make it that way. Simply mix in 1 cup of raisins to the dough and bake as you normally would.
How to Make Irish Soda Bread without Buttermilk
This Irish Soda Bread recipe doesn’t call for any buttermilk because I never have it on hand. I hate buying an item that I will only use a little bit of and the rest goes to waste. However, it does call for making your own with milk and lemon juice and it turns out perfectly. The plus side is that if you’d rather just use buttermilk you can.
Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day recipes I’ve got ya covered!
Simple Irish Soda Bread
St. Patrick's Day dinner doesn't have to be hard or time consuming. My Simple Irish Soda Bread is ready in 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- 4 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter (I prefer to use Irish butter), cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice**
- 1 2/3 - 1 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F and spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.
- Whisk together 4 cups flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal/crumbs.
- Place lemon juice in a 2 cup glass measuring cup and fill up to 1 3/4 mark with milk. Let milk sit for several minutes to sour. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and soured milk to the well and mix with a wooden spoon. Once the dough is too stiff to stir, dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add in a little additional flour.
- Shape dough into a round loaf. (The dough will be a little sticky and quite rugged looking.) But do not over-knead! Work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Rough and shaggy is good. Over-kneading will result in a tough loaf of bread.
- Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an "X" shape.
- Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35-40 minutes.
- Remove sheet from oven, let bread cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted.
Notes
**Skip the lemon juice and milk and just use 1 3/4 cups buttermilk if you have it.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 1136Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 529mgCarbohydrates: 221gFiber: 8gSugar: 2gProtein: 33g
Can this be made earlier in the day and baked at dinner time?
Hi Carol. It really needs to be baked right away. It doesn’t take long to throw together. Or just make it completely earlier in the day and reheat it before serving. w-
How long does this last after being made? Sounds yummy and don’t make bread at all at home.
A week in the fridge or a couple days on the counter. But we usually eat the whole thing at once. w-
Is that right for the nutrition facts? 1,136 calories per slice?
No…it keeps pulling the whole loaf information for some reason. w-
Good, I thought the same thing too! I thought “No way!”
Hi,
How do I print your Irish Soda Bread recipe without having to download something to my computer? And if I can’t do that where can I just look at it online?
Thanks
Hi Corinne, You don’t need to download anything. My recipes are free for viewing online at any time or if you’d like to print, just hit the big pink print button that is located in the recipe card (right above the ingredient list). Happy St. Patrick’s Day. w-
Thanks, Wendy. I figured out how to print out the recipe, after I’d commented. Sorry about that. Feel free to delete my comment if you can.
I made the bread yesterday, after seeing your recipe at my Pastor’s house, the bread turned out delicious! Thanks!
I love how simple this bread is to make!
I loved making the Soda bread from this meal plan for St Patrick’s day it was so easy and the kids loved to help as well. Tasted even better when we had it for supper.
I love the addition of buttermilk in your Irish Soda Bread recipe! We’re a big fan of the Cooked Perfect Chicken too. The Wildflower Honey BBQ is our favorite!
This Irish Soda Bread recipe is great! Thank you 🙂
Oh yea! I love this bread recipe! So simple and great for an meal for sure. I am also going to be checking my local store for those chicken thighs!
This Irish Soda bread really was simple to make. I’m so excited to share it with everyone tomorrow!