Easy Sourdough Irish Soda Bread

You probably have everything you need to make this recipe. However, here are a few of my favorites:

• Large stainless steel mixing bowl: while you can absolutely make this recipe in your stand mixer or food processor, I prefer mixing it by hand
• Pastry blender: using a pastry blender will just mix your dough enough to get everything incorporated without overmixing it
• 9″ cast iron skillet: I love cast iron and it’s so easy to make this soda bread in a cast iron skillet

Ready to learn my Super Simple Sourdough method?

Here are a few suggestions on how to vary this recipe:

• Buttermilk: if you don’t have (access to) cultured buttermilk, you can add 1 ½ tsp of lemon juice or vinegar to ¾ cup of milk
• Sugar: as I mentioned before, we prefer to keep this bread on the more savory side but you can add up to 4 TBSP of sugar total if you’d like to make it sweeter.
• Raisins: you can easily add about ½ cup of raisins or cranberries to this recipe if you like
• Orange zest: or you might like to add 1 TBSP of citrus zest

The classic way is to serve this loaf of bread on St. Patty’s Day with corned beef and cabbage.

However, you can serve this soda bread any time you like or need a quick bread.

How about enjoying it for breakfast with butter and jam and a cup of tea?

Or serving it with dinner instead of fluffy rolls?

As you can see the possibilities are endless!

Honestly, this sourdough Irish soda bread tastes best on the day that you bake it.

However, you can easily wrap it in a paper bag or tea towel and enjoy it for the next 2-3 days.

Sourdough Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Homemade Sourdough Lemon Cake

Cast Iron Sourdough Waffles

Spiced Sourdough Apple Cake

Skillet Cornbread with Sourdough

Sea Salt

Pastry Blender

9″ Cast Iron Skillet

Yes, you can either use your active sourdough starter but it’s also a great way to use your sourdough discard for this soda bread.

If you like to add some whole grain goodness, I recommend replacing half of the white flour with whole-wheat flour. If your dough ends up being too dry, just add a bit more buttermilk.

For best results, I highly recommend sticking with buttermilk in this recipe. The baking soda needs the acidity of the buttermilk to create the light texture.

There seem to be many different explanations but I like the one about it letting the fairies out. Regardless, it also helps the bread rise better in the oven.

You don’t! You can place your soda bread on piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake it like that. I like the brown bottom of baking it in cast iron. You can even bake it in a Dutch oven for an improved crust and more rise.

You can keep this sourdough soda bread for 2-3 days. If you’d like to freeze it, you can wrap it tightly in aluminum foil and then plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Just follow these simple steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 375˚F.
2. To a medium-large bowl, add the wet ingredients: the egg, buttermilk, sourdough starter, and butter.
3. Gently mix these ingredients.
4. Now add the dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
5. Using a pastry blender, mix this dough until all the ingredients are just combined without overmixing the dough.
6. If the dough is still very sticky you can either add a bit more flour or dust your hands with flour to handle it.
7. Shape the dough into a round loaf.
8. Place the dough ball in your cast iron skillet.
9. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top of the bread.
10. Brush the top of the bread with melted butter.
11. Place the bread in the oven and bake for 45-55 mins or until golden brown and a knife or toothpick comes out clean.
12. Remove the bread from the cast iron skillet and let cool down on a wire rack.