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!!
Hi, if I use regular white flour do I just use 2 cups of it or should I add another 1 3/4 to replace the wheat flour.
Thanks
Hi Luisa, you need the total amount of flour so you’ll need to add white flour in place of the wholemeal as well. N x
Greetings from Copenhagen! Just had my first Irish Soda bread and the whole family loved it. Looks, smells and tastes fantastic. Thank you, Nagi! Love, Anastacia
That’s the BEST! Thanks so much for letting me know Anastasia!! N x
Can you please tell me what is 1.75 cups of flour?
1.75 cups =1 3/4 cups
Just had my first Irish Soda bread with raisins. SO good and flavorful. My new go-to! LOVE IT! Thank you! Enjoying your recipes.
Oh I Love this idea Claudia!! N x
I followed the recipe precisely and had huge success. Thanks a lot! The sliced bread turns out soft and warm in mircrowave 20 secs and 4 out of 10 power after refrigerating for 3 days. Wonderful!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Winnie! N x
Hi! I have lots of bread flour but can’t find yeast anywhere! Can I make this bread with bread flour?
Yes Roxanne! Enjoy! N x
Hi im in USA, I have a regular oven but I’m not sure if that means a fan oven, help? What temperature do I use?
Hi Tea! 430F is for a regular oven 🙂 N x
I cannot find bread nor yeast in my area so I searched for a non yeast bread and this popped up. I made it and was very happy. Next time I don’t think I will knead it as much and get it in the oven in the 3 minutes time frame. Making more next week. Thanks!
Yes! It makes a world of difference moving fast 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it! N x
Can you form it into a loaf pan to bake without any issues too?
I actually found the answer in a comment below. Not a great idea due to the type of crust.
Excellent! It is difficult to find yeast in my country at this time, so this is a GREAT alternative to bread recipes that require yeast. Thank you!
Yes, perfect!! N x
Truly amazing bread. So yummy with a casserole and easy. Thanks Nagi.
You’re so welcome Li! N x
I don’t use regular milk. Can any of the nut/oat milk be used?
Sure can Donna! N x
how do you sub buttermilk for almond do you add vinegar and if so how much?
I love this recipe, but I ran into a few issues, and am hoping to correct it for the next time I make it.
So the bread had a very thick, crunchy crust and the inner came out rather dry. Some substitutions I had to make were I used Bob’s Red Mill 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat flour instead of wholemeal. I used the 2 cups white flour that the recipe calls for as well.
I didn’t have buttermilk, so I did the alternative, but instead of regular full-fat milk, I used 2% Lactaid (lactose intolerant) and a tbsp of lemon juice for the faux-buttermilk.
After mixing, I noticed the dough was much darker than in the GIF. All the portions and bake times and temps were what the recipe called for.
I feel like the problem was the amount of whole wheat flour I used? And maybe I kneaded the dough too much?
I dunno. Could anybody help me? If you have more questions or need clarification, let me know.
Hi Tyson, you’ve made a few substitutions so it’s hard to say exactly which one could be the main contributor. All flour has different absorption percentages which will alter the final result – sounds like you may need to add a little more water to it (wholemeal flour requires more water than white flour). And the milk will have an impact on the final result as well – the fat in the milk keeps this bread moist without going dry. N x
I believe the 2% Lactaid is the problem. To make homemade buttermilk I usually use one tablespoon FRESH lemon juice or vinegar per one cup WHOLE milk. Milk which isn’t whole just wouldn’t be a good substitute. Sorry.
Nagi I made this bread last night. I was trying to stay within the three minute time limit so the loaf wasn’t very smooth when it went into the oven. Hence it was an ugly loaf BUT the flavor was sublime! Ugly or not I will be making this often!
As long as it was tasty Kevin!!
Hi Nagi, thanks for your recipes. I’ve tried a few and always had good results except for the soda bread. I followed your recipe and the bread came up doughy and underbaked, even though I extended the baking time by 10 mins. The crust was wonderful though. Have you ever had that experience?
Hi Tracey, sorry you had issues here – did you make any changes to the recipe by any chance? N x
Hi Nagi,
I love bread very much and glad to find your soda bread recipe and would certainly give it a try. I have to questions:
a. according to your note on making substitute buttermilk where:
Buttermilk sub: Mix 1.75 cups + 1 tbsp full fat milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice.
Does it means that the 1.75 cups contain of Water + 1 tbsp full fat milk + 1 tbsp?
b. Can I bake this bread using the rice cooker with baking function?
Please advise.
Thanks
Kelly
No, it is 1.75cup whole milk, plus an additional tablespoon of whole milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. They added the additional tbsp of whole milk so that the total is 2 cups of improvised buttermilk.
Unfortunately, I cannot answer your second question.
Thanks Ash for your reply. I’ll try it out soon.
Can u make this low carb
Thanks Great and super easy recipe 💕I added garlic and Olives as well as some Parm Cheese🤗Yummy
Hi Ash! Thanks for helping Kelly out 🙂 Kelly, Ash is correct – it’s 1.75 cups milk + another 1 tbsp of whole milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar. It doesn’t add up to 1 cup because this substitute buttermilk is thinner than actual buttermilk so you want to use slightly less otherwise the dough is way too sticky. Unfortunately I can’t answer the 2nd question either, haven’t tried (yet!) – Nagi
Thanks Nagi for your reply. I’ll try it out soon.
Hi kelly, it means that you use 1.75 cups of milk and add 1 tbsp full fat milk and add 1 tbsp vinegar. Hope this helped. 😉
Thanks Nina for your reply. I’ll try it out soon.
Can this recipe be adapted to using a pressure cooker instead of oven ; if so what time would you recommend
Hi Marc, I feel you wont get the right crust – but I’d love to know if it works! N x
Ok, so I made this mostly because it’s three days to pay day and I had no yeast, however it may become a more frequent feature in my kitchen!
Again, broke – I only had 120ml low fat milk, so I added crème fraîche (18% fat), and water to make up to the 500ml ish) to make the buttermilk substitute – I only had white wine vinegar, so screw it, used that!
The white wine vinegar gives a little bit of flavour, which is nice, as I only had plain white flour but as a whole it’s pretty damn good!
The crust is fantastic, it came together really quickly and is moist and surprisingly light! I’ll absolutely be trying again with the “right” ingredients, baring buttermilk (never though about a substitute before, but it isn’t available in Norway), thank you for providing me with an “emergency” type bread!
It reminds me a lot of Australian “Damper”, which makes sense considering that most the the immigrants to Australia were Irish!
I’m so glad it worked out for you Asa, that’s terrific!! N x
Can this be made without milk? I don’t do dairy.
Hi Jay, try almond/soy/lactose free milk 🙂
Easy to make & a great accompaniment for any hearty, rich dish.
Yes 100%!