How to make the best traditional Irish Soda Bread

The recipe for traditional Irish brown soda bread is often confused with the more American recipe that includes things like raisins, carraway seeds and eggs - luxury items to most people who would have eaten soda bread every day.

This Irish recipe is easy, tasty and authentic and doesn’t require anything fancy! In Ireland, soda bread originally became popular due to the fact that it could be cooked in a cast-iron pot over a fire without the need for an oven. Today it’s just a lovely, rustic addition to any meal but equally as tasty.

Ingredients:

2 cups wholemeal flour (whole wheat flour)
1 cup plain white flour
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 tsp bread soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
½ cup jumbo rolled oats

Heat your oven to 400 F/ Gas mark 6 and mix your flours,bread soda, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Then pour in the buttermilk and mix the dry and wet ingredients together until you have a sticky, soft dough mixture on your hands. There’s no need to knead this dough, you can just tip it into a lightly oiled loaf tin, or divide it into 6 even balls to create individual rolls on a floured baking tray. Sprinkle the oats over the top of the loaf/rolls and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes. You’ll know when the bread is done when you tap the underneath - it will make a sound as if the loaf is hollow. Allow to cool before slathering with good quality butter or jam - perfect!

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