The world’s best No Yeast Bread – Irish Soda Bread! because it’s a 4 ingredient, 5 minute recipe made
▢ 300 g white flour (plain / all purpose)
▢ 265 g wholemeal flour (wholewheat, Note 1)
▢ 2 – 3 tbsp Extra Flour (either flour, for dusting)
▢ 1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb, Note 2)
▢ 1 1/2 tsp salt
▢ 500 ml buttermilk , fridge cold (Note 3)
Variations
Non dairy butter milk:
430 ml soy milk
1.5 tea spoon vinegar
1.5 Times Recipe
645 1.5
2.3 tea spoon
2.3 salt
450 g flour
397.5 g wholemeal
Instructions
Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
Line tray with baking paper.
Whisk both flours (not Extra Flour), baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Add buttermilk, stir until it’s too hard to stir anymore.
Sprinkle 2 tbsp Extra Flour onto work surface, scrape out dough, sprinkle with more flour.
Gently knead no more than 8 times, bring together into a ball. (Note 4)
Transfer to tray, pat into 2.5cm/1″ thick disc.
Cut cross on surface 1cm / 0.3″ deep using serrated knife.
Bake 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
Bake further 20 minutes, or until the base sounds hollow when tapped in the middle.
Transfer to rack and cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Recipe Notes:
1. Flour – wholemeal flour gives this bread a slightly nutty flavour which is lovely. Coarse or fine ground. Can be made with just plain/all purpose flour but flavour is more plain. Don’t bother using bread flour – it’s wasted on this no yeast bread.
2. Baking soda – also known as bicarbonate soda (bi-carb), 3x more powerful than baking powder. Stronger rise power required for this no-yeast bread.
3. Buttermilk substitute:
1.75 cups (435ml) + 1 tbsp of full fat milk
1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice (or other clear vinegar)
Mix the milk and lemon juice together, set aside for 15 minutes. It will congeal on surface. Then use in place of buttermilk in recipe.
Volume is just shy of 2 cups of buttermilk (per recipe) because this substitute is thinner so you need to use a touch less otherwise dough gets too wet.
4. Dough stickiness – use more flour as required. The trick is to use just enough flour to make the dough manageable because stickier dough = more moist bread.
5. Variations – This bread is terrific as is, it’s a classic traditional Irish Soda Bread. Some popular flavoured versions (stir in with dry ingredients):
Oats – brush surface with extra buttermilk and sprinkle with oats. Can also mix in oats (up to 1 cup), but reduce flour in dough by 1/2 cup;
Raisins! Stir in 1 cup
Seeds! Pumpkin, linseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppyseed. Stir through and sprinkle on top, about 1/2 cup.
Misc Crap
Rustic flavour, great crust, keeps well for days. Slather with butter, mop your plate clean, dunk into soups – or Irish Beef and Guinness Stew!
“Irish Soda Bread takes just 5 minutes to get in the oven. So you can have fresh bread any night!”
What it tastes like
baking soda instead of yeast. more dense than your everyday white sandwich bread. Hearty and rustic – tastes kind of nutty from the wholemeal flour.