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 Nagi, ‘Twould be better if you could include metric/imperial weights/quantities in this soda bread recipe. Cups are too imprecise. You appear do this in many ingredients lists. This recipe is one exception. I havn’ t checked but there could be more.
Great recipes anyway. Thanks.
It’s there! Click the Metric button above the ingredients list 🙂 N x
Any chance that this recipe works with almond milk?
Is there a substitute to the buttermilk please
Hi Vick, yes it’s listed in the recipe notes. N x
I had a few issues with this loaf, but despite its imperfections it was still very tasty, and went well with your lentil soup recipe. I think my dough was too wet, even after adding another half cup of flour – attempting to mark a cross on the surface was rather futile. I now have a very irregular lump of bread in my tin which could probably have benefited from being in the oven a wee bit longer, but I am still looking forward to eating it with marmalade for breakfast tomorrow, with soup for lunch tomorrow, and with beef stew for dinner tomorrow…
Hi Dawn, sorry you had issues here, could you have possibly mismeasured? You can click the metric toggle to get the ml & gram amounts used in this recipe. N x
We had no water on 16 and 17 of March our city was doing water maintenance on street in Dom Mills/the don way..so soda bread today yeah..hug to you as always a great recipe and woof for Dozer from Luca
Hi Nagi! I just made your soda bread recipe to compliment your Irish Guinness Stew. Oh my word, delicious! And filling! I used steel oats in it along with about 3 tblsp of a 3 dried onion mixture I have. It was truly awesome. It was the easiest bread recipe I have ever tried. Thanks again for a great recipe my whole family loved.
Hi Nagi. Thanks a lot for this recipe. I didn’t know it’s so easy to bake a such good bread!
You’re converted now Olivier!!! N x
I made the soda bread last night, love it, was quick and easy and delicious 😋wasnt hard, was perfect.
That’s awesome Dian, thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂 N x
Very good recipe, first time I made a soda bread. And I am not disappointed. So good this recipe. It is easy and quick to make. No “waiting time” just make the dough and bake. So simple and delicious. Thank you Nagi, can I give this bread to my dog, because of the baking soda?
Nice soda bread unfortunately too hard crust. What did I do wrong.
Hi Ellen, the crust should be slightly hard, to soften, wrap in a tea towel as it cools and the crust will become more like store-bought where it’s soft. N x
I looked at many of the comments and did not find an answer. When adding oats is it 1-1/2 white flour, 1-3/4 wheat, 1c oats? Or 3-1/4 white and 1c oats?
Hi Carol, I talk about this in the recipe notes 🙂 N x
Absolutely delicious! I have used only white flour because I did not have wholemeal, but I did add a cup of 5-corn flakes (rye, wheat, oat, barley and rice) as well as two tablespoons of melted honey. Goes perfectly well with my Irish Stew, as well as with butter and honey on top! SO GOOD.
Quick question please. Thank
You for sharing. I am excited to try it
I want to use whole-wheat. Am
I using 2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 3/4 of whole wheat flour or is it one or the other? Thanks
Hi Sharmila, the recipe used both 2 cups of white flour and 1 3/4 of wholewheat flour 🙂 N x
Hi, when using just plain flour, how much do I use? Thanks!
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I have a allergy to yeast and have not been able to find any replacement with the right texture until now. I followed the directions exactly and the texture is perfect! Everyone loved this hearty bread with the Guinness stew.I was surprised that the bread holds up well when wrapped tightly. Thank you!
can you make this in a loaf pan so its more like sandwich bread? your posts aren’t showing up on my Facebook anymore have you stopped posting? love your recipes!!!
I don’t know what Nagi would say about cooking in a bread pan but I would guess that you don’t get that nice crispy crust
Delicious! The addition of oats gave it substance and a beautiful yellowish colour. I served it with your pea and ham soup. Perfect on a chilly Melbourne summers night.
Hi nagi!
Was wondering if I can use reduced fat buttermilk?
Thanks!
I’m going to make this later, I just wanted to say thank you for pointing out that bread flour is a waste on this kind of bread. Previous recipes that I used failed to mention this and the results were not good at all. I have high hopes for this one, as the other recipes I got from you turned out so wonderfully. Thanks!
As well as Gingers comment, I heard that the wheat in Ireland has always been very low in gluten and that’s why they created a bread without the use of yeast. Bread flour specifically has that high gluten content that needs to be kneaded
Bread flour is a waste simply because there is no yeast in this recipe. Baking soda is the activator and the need for high gluten is nill.
Ginger
This is similar to my Irish Moms recipe. I add 1/2 cup raw bran for more goodness. Thanks for your great recipes.
Sounds perfect Sandy!! N x
Hi Nagi, your webite is always my go-to! Thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom.
Could you make this bread in the pressure cooker/instant pot? I guess you could use the bake function on it, but would it get hot enough?
Hi Tina, I haven’t tried sorry! I’d love to know if it works! N x