Irish Soda Bread Recipe (Quick Bread with Raisins)
This is a very easy bread to make for St. Patrick's Day or any time of year really. Enjoy it with a potato soup or a delicious Irish stew. Or just slather on some grass-fed Irish butter, warm it up and enjoy it as a quick breakfast bread on the go.
Servings: 12
Calories: 210kcal
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour About 14 oz., plus 1 Tbsp for raisins
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt or sea salt
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp orange zest optional, but a nice touch
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper and place paddle attachment on stand mixer.
- Add flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to bowl of a stand mixer and mix with attachment. If doing by hand: Use a whisk or a fork to stir the dry ingredients together until evenly mixed.
- Add cold cubed butter to dry ingredients and mix about 2 minutes, or until butter is well distributed, less than pea sized in the flour.By hand: Using your fingertips or pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour mixture until it’s well distributed and broken down into pieces smaller than pea-sized, about 2–3 minutes. (Pinch and rub the butter into the flour)
- Add buttermilk to a small bowl or measuring cup with egg and orange zest and use a fork to whisk it well.
- Add buttermilk mixture to your mixer and run on low speed till all wet, do not over-mix.By hand: Pour the buttermilk into the bowl with the dry ingredients and butter. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir gently until the dough comes together and all the dry ingredients are moistened. Be careful not to over-mix—just stir until it forms a shaggy, wet dough.
- Sprinkle a little less than a Tablespoon of flour on your raisins and stir them to fully coat them.
- Fold the raisins into the dough. (The dough will be very sticky and wet at this point)
- Transfer the sticky dough onto a generously floured counter and just gently roll it into a ball, swiping some flour from the side onto it, just until it stops sticking to your hands. Sprinkle just a touch of flour if it's still sticky and then form it into a round ball and flatten slightly.
- Place the dough on the parchment paper lined sheet pan and cut an X into the top of the bread with a serrated knife.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, (check at 40 mins.) or until internal temperature in the center is 200 deg. F. The loaf sounds hollow when you tap on the bottom of it.
- Cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes and then you may enjoy it or set aside to fully cool.
- Serve warm, cut into slices with butter or at room temperature.
Video
Notes
Keep the bread wrapped in plastic wrap or a bread bag and enjoy up to 5 days at room temperature.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 210kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 423mg | Potassium: 180mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 157IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 2mg