Irish Soda Bread Recipe (Traditional Brown Bread) (2024)

This is an easy Irish soda bread recipe with a 5-minute preparation and no kneading skills required! This yeast-free dough is perfect for beginner bakers and busy families!

Soda bread (Irish: arán sóide) is a traditional Irishbread. The dough for this bread doesn’t use yeast, but bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)which is the rising agent here.

No mixer and no proofing are needed tomake a loaf of this brown soda bread. It’s so easy that it makes a great bakingproject for kids as well.

It is a perfect choice for those who want to try and make homemade bread but are put off by the long process that needs to be followed for yeast based breads. This Irish soda bread is quick to make and tastes amazing!

We love this brown soda bread lightly toasted with butter and homemade preserves (Low Sugar Strawberry Jam is our favorite as well as Mixed Berry Jam).

But because it is not sweet, it goes also well with creamy soups like Zucchini Soup or Potato Leek Soup (which is so easy to make in a pressure cooker!).

Howto make Irish soda bread

Wholemeal and all-purpose flour are combined with salt and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. I have a 4.25-quart (4-liter) Mason Cash bowl that I love for making Irish brown soda bread.

It’s wide enough soyou can form a dough easily by hands, without having to transfer it onto aworktop. Now that being said, if you end up with a softer dough, it will beeasier to shape it into a loaf on a worktop rather than in a bowl.

Now, give all those 4 ingredients a good stir before you add buttermilk. Then, all you have to do is mix everything – start with a wooden spoon and finish it off with your hands.

You don’t need toknead it. You want to shape it into a loaf. Then, place it onto a baking sheetlined with baking parchment and brush the soda bread loaf with egg wash.

Baking should not take long – only about 30 minutes so you can easily make a loaf of this Irish soda bread on a weeknight.

Tips for making the best Irish soda bread

• Buttermilk can be substituted with kefir or natural yogurt (for example, I sometimes use Instant Pot Yogurt to make this soda bread and you can’t taste any difference). The only difference will be in the dough – buttermilk is thinner so your dough will be softer, while yogurt/kefir dough will be harder.
• I used 2 cups of liquid for 4 cups of flour. If you feel that your dough is dry or hard, don’t be afraid to add a little bit more liquid. This can be because a cup of flour never weighs the same and sometimes you might end up with adding more flour, while other time less.
• If you feel that you added too much liquid, you can knead in some flour.
• Baking time can vary slightly (every oven bakes differently), but count with about 25 minutes (at 400° Fahrenheit/200° Celsius). What you are looking for is a nice golden brown top and if still not sure, you can turn the soda bread loaf upside down and tap it. It should make a hollow sound and the crust should be brown as well.
• Egg is only used to brush the surface of this brown soda bread before baking. This gives it a nice golden color. However, you can omit it, if you prefer.
• Traditionally, you would make a cross with a knife on top of the loaf, but you don’t have to do it. It won’t change its taste.

If you like this Irish brown soda bread recipe, you might also like other Irish Recipes on our blog like Full Irish Breakfast or Irish Colcannon.

Note: This Irish brown soda bread is an old post that has been updated with new photos and detailed instructions with lots of useful tips.

Check out our video for how to make Irish brown soda bread:

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