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Last updated on May 31st, 2023 at 04:41 pm
One of the saints days we always celebrated growing up was St Patrick’s day. Along with our corned beef & cabbage, my Nana would bake this easy, buttery Irish Soda Bread recipe.
Years ago, I asked Nana if she would write down her recipes in a book for me. One Christmas, each of her grandchildren received a handwritten recipe book from her.
Her note on this particular recipe? “This is my favorite.”
This bread is incredibly easy to whip up last minute, and it makes, not one, but two loaves! One to eat and one to share …although you may end up keeping it for yourself.
This buttery Irish Soda Bread recipe is easy to make and is the perfect breakfast (or dessert) to serve for St Patrick’s Day.
Irish Soda Bread Ingredients
The ingredients are simple, but I always have to make a trip to the store to make sure I have everything.
- All-purpose flour. No special bread flour is needed.
- Cold butter makes it extra flaky and SO good.
- Buttermilk is needed for this bread. You can use this recipe to use up what’s left over.
- Golden raisins. I’m no raisin fan, but they’re a must-have for this bread.
Butter is the key
The secret to a flaky, crumbly (& so tasty!) dough is the cold, cubed butter. Cut the butter into the dry mix until it’s crumbly.
You can use a pastry cutter but I’ve always used my hands. (I think that’s how Nana taught me to do it …I don’t recall ever seeing a pastry cutter.)
Toss in the raisins. Then it’s time to mix up the dough.
Mixing the dough
Add the buttermilk to the mix. I begin by stirring it with my dough whisk but it gets really thick after a while. It’s easiest to incorporate all the ingredients by switching to gently kneading. Knead until all the dry mix is gone.
Making the loaves
As mentioned earlier, this recipe makes two loaves. I measure my dough on a kitchen scale so I know that each loaf is the same size —this makes baking easier.
Turn each loaf several times on a well-floured surface to make them into round loaves. Then brush the entire surface of the loaves with softened butter and sprinkle with sugar.
How to serve the Irish Soda Bread
Irish soda bread is good on its own. Around here we eat it buttered after it’s cooled for 30 minutes. But we like it best when it’s toasted and buttered!
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cubed
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 TBSP soft butter for brushing
- 2 tsp granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment or lightly grease two round pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients. Cut the cubed butter into the dry mix using a pastry cutter or fork (or your hands) until the mix becomes crumbly. Toss in the golden raisins.
- Add the buttermilk to the mix. Gently knead until all the dry mix is incorporated into the dough.
- On a well-floured surface, take half the dough & turn over in the flour to get a round form. Set on one side of the cookie sheet or in one round pan. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Brush the loaves with soft butter & top with granulated sugar.
- Bake for ~40 minutes. Let sit for 30 minutes. Serve warm with butter or toasted with butter.
Notes
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