St. Patrick’s Day: Irish Soda Bread Recipe

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner — a day in which millions of people wear green, attend parades and drink green beer. We love to honor the Irish — it makes sense since about 33 million Americans claim to have Irish heritage. There are dozens of ways to experience Irish culture, food is how we’re honoring the Irish today. Irish people love their soda bread — so much so, it’s served at almost every meal. It’s no wonder — it’s delicious and incredibly easy to make.

Soda bread has just four ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. Technically, because it uses baking soda rather than yeast to rise, it’s considered a quick bread — like zucchini bread or muffins. In the 19th century, yeast was hard to come by in Ireland and baking soda was cheap so it was the obvious solution for the need for bread. But, not only was it the means to an end, people could make it quickly because it requires no rising time and it could be baked in a big pot similar to a cast iron Dutch oven and set on the coals of a fire rather than baked in an oven. Add all of these benefits to a delicious bread and you have a win-win-win! Try out our recipe for soda bread this St. Patrick’s Day and you’ll want to make it every day, too!

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ⅔ cups buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a round cake pan with parchment paper.
Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the buttermilk until everything just comes together — do not over mix it! It will look messy, but it’ll work itself out in the oven. Gently form a ball. Place it in the cake pan and cut a cross into the top of the loaf. Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and return the bread to the oven for another 15 minutes or until it’s golden brown.

This bread is so easy and so good, you really have no excuse not to make it, but let St. Patrick’s Day be your reason to make it! Enjoy your bread and happy St. Patrick’s Day!