The world’s best No Yeast Bread – Irish Soda Bread! Irish bread is unique because it’s a 4 ingredient, 5 minute recipe made without yeast but still has a proper crumb just like “real” bread.
You don’t need to be Irish to make this.😉 You just need to be a fellow Carb Monster! Rustic flavour, great crust, keeps well for days. Slather with butter, mop your plate clean, dunk into soups – or Irish Beef and Guinness Stew!
World’s BEST No Yeast Bread!
People say that the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven is one of the best things in the world.
Forget the smell. What about the moment when you cut yourself a thick slice of warm homemade bread, slather it with butter then take a big fat, satisfying bite of it??
I’ll take THAT over the smell any day ……. 😂
“Irish Soda Bread takes just 5 minutes to get in the oven. So you can have fresh bread any night!”
What it tastes like
It’s called Irish Soda Bread because it’s made with baking soda instead of yeast. Because of this, it’s more dense than your everyday white sandwich bread. Hearty and rustic are the words that come to mind, and it tastes kind of nutty from the wholemeal flour.
While dense, it still has an aerated crumb like “normal” bread. And it’s got a great crust which I love!
What goes in Irish Soda Bread
Here’s what you need:
Flour – white flour makes a slightly more tender crumb whereas wholewheat/wholemeal adds flavour. So using both is best – but it can be made with just either flour.
Baking Soda – This is baking powder on steroids, with almost 3 times as much rising power. Because this is a formidable ball of dough we’re working with here, we need the super strength of baking soda instead of baking powder!
Buttermilk – The vinegar in buttermilk activates the baking soda, giving it a kickstart which you need for a loaf of bread this size. Easy sub: Just mix milk and lemon juice or vinegar, leave to curdle and use per recipe. It’s a near perfect sub.
Salt – the only seasoning required! See below for more flavouring options
Don’t worry if you don’t have buttermilk. Make your own with milk and vinegar – it’s a near perfect substitute.
No egg? No butter? No sugar??
That’s right! This is a traditional Irish Soda Bread we’re making here. For one thing, this bread is better without egg and butter. Egg makes the bread less moist, and the butter made the crumb less tender (I made side by side versions just to be sure).
And this bread has enough flavour to eat plain with just lashings of butter so you don’t need extra flavourings like sugar and spices – though you can if you want.
To avoid your Soda Bread coming out as hard as a canon ball, don’t knead more than 10 times!
Irish Soda Bread Tips
Irish Soda bread is a mix / 10 second knead / shape / bake job. It’s very simple and quite forgiving but I do have a few tips to ensure yours is a success even if you’re a bread first timer.
3 minutes into oven – Once you add the buttermilk, aim to get it into the oven within 3 minutes. This is because buttermilk activates the baking soda. So the second it is added, the baking soda is fizzing away, getting ready to do its thing. If you leave it lying around, it loses its firepower = dense dough.
10 Knead Rule – Like all no yeast bread / muffin type recipes like Blueberry Muffins and Herb Garlic Quick Bread Loaf, the less you handle the dough, the softer the crumb. So don’t knead more than 10 times!
The wetter the dough, the more moist the crumb – Just use enough flour to be able to shape and move the dough.
As with every dough recipe, even simple No Yeast flatbreads, the exact amount of flour required will differ for everyone, even from day to day. Different flour brands, humidity, warmth, coldness of your work surface – all these impact the exact amount of flour required.
It’s better to have a stickier dough and add more flour as required, rather than a dry dough which is hard to salvage. So I start with 1.75 cups, then measure out another 1/4 cup for dusting/kneading and just use what’s required.
Variations
This version I’m sharing today is a plain traditional Irish bread. I say it’s “plain” but it’s certainly not flavourless. You’ll find yourself devouring it with nothing more than butter! But it’s also a terrific to add flavourings, some common variations include:
Oats – inside and sprinkled on top
Raisins, caraway seeds
Seeds – sesame, sunflower, linseed and pumpkin seeds is a combination I tried at my local markets today!
Eat it plain, toast it, or serve it with….
This is such a great last minute emergency bread. It’s so quick to make, but you won’t feel like you’re “just making do” just because it’s a no yeast bread. It is a great bread as it is.
Make it to dunk into one of these soups or stews:
OR use it for toast in the morning. Make Cheesy Garlic Bread, or big Jewish deli-style Pastrami sandwiches. Just use this as you would any other bread – except you have the added bonus of smug satisfaction knowing you made it yourself!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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World’s Best No Yeast Bread – Irish Soda Bread!
Ingredients
- 2 cups white flour (plain / all purpose)
- 1 3/4 cups 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
- 2 cups buttermilk , fridge cold (Note 3)
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:
- 1.75 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.
- 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.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
When he spotted a duck under the jetty. It took much effort to drag him back up the stairs – and he very nearly pulled me into the water!!
I’ve so many Irish cook books, with so many recipes. This one is straight forward & tastes great. I’m a cook in a childcare centre. Made loads of this the other day. The kids loved it. I’m adding some dried fruit & nuts to mine, for St Paddy’s day breakfast.
Love this recipe Made this to go with your fabulous slow cooked Guinness stew to which I had added around 500 grams of sliced new potatoes. The whole thing was amazing. Thank you 🙏
Made this to go with your fabulous slow cooked Guinness stew to which I had added around 500 grams of sliced new potatoes. The whole thing was amazing. Thank you 🙏
Have tried this a few times with different combos of spelt, atta flour and Besan flour. Works great every time.
I am Irish but have never found such a good recipe that explains all simply.
Thank you so much
Hi Nagi & Dozer, thank you for the delicious bread, we absolutely devoured it. I have friends who are gluten intolerant, is it possible to use gluten free flour?
Cheers, Leonie
Just out of the oven. Amazing, hollow to the tap. Followed recipe exactly. Very happy, thank you.
I’ve made this all my life but decided to try your recipe and add oats to it. It was delicious.
Hi Nagi and Dozer it is my first time making this bread and omg so delish and moreish I will be making this more often thanks
Perfect accompaniment for your beef Guinness stew! Fabulous easy to make soda bread, used some rye and extra white flour instead of wholemeal. Perfect! Thanks so much.
So easy and it turned out way better than I anticipated. Had with the Guinness beef stew, mash and garlic spinach and it was definitely a winner
Absolutely stonkingly good !!
Just like my Irish nan and my mom used to make ( although nan used to wait to actually sour a bottle of milk ) … this soda bread served with lashings of best Kerrygold irish butter just cannot be beaten ! fabulous easy and quick recipe THANK YOU Nagi ; ). xx
If you’re like me, and find the sticky dough hard to work with, here’s my less-mess solution: slap the dough on a sheet of lightly greased baking paper and use it to roll/fold into a loaf shape. Bake it on the paper or use the paper to lift it into a loaf tin. The bread is lovely by the way!
I made this and it’s amazing! I think this version is so much better than the one with egg and butter.
Thank-you. It’s really good. I made a half quantity and used half the amount of salt (even for half quantity so a quarter of the original amount).
Absolutely so easy to make and takes no time at all. Loved the taste of the bread. So much nicer than store bought bread. Will be making this time and time again.
No butter, no egg? This isn’t Irish Soda Bread. Grandma would roll over in her grave.
This is exactly how Irish soda bread should be made – apart from piercing each quarter to let the fairies out.
This recipe is made the traditional way, and it’s wonderful. Adding butter and eggs is for making Irish-American Soda Bread.
Made this soda bread today to eat with roast chicken and salad – absolutely delicious!!
I did increase salt a bit and found cooking time less than stipulated but, altitude would be a factor.
Definitely a quick bread recipe added to my collection. Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful loaf this recipe makes , I used my dutch oven and got it hot with the oven and then threw the loaf in covered for the first 20 and took off the lid for the last 20 to brown , its so light and fluffy and it grew so much , this is a keeper
What a beautiful loaf this recipe makes , I used my dutch oven and got it hot with the oven and then threw the loaf in covered for the first 20 and took off the lid for the last 20 to brown , its so light and fluffy and it grew so much if I could post a Pic I would , this is a keeper