When I couldn’t afford a $4 loaf of bread on my $10-a-day food budget, I turned to soda bread. I would make a loaf every morning, slice it, and top it with scrambled eggs, mashed avocado, or butter. I’d serve it as a partner in crime with simple salads and soups. I even used it on an episode of MasterChef (I competed on Season 3), and Gordon Ramsay loved it. This recipe is very easy to put together and incredibly budget-friendly. Get ready to put this one in heavy rotation!
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What’s Special About Soda Bread?
Soda bread is a quick bread with a hard outer crust and a dense, tight crumb. Quick breads are leavened with baking powder or soda instead of yeast. So, if you’ve had a muffin, cornbread, biscuits, or banana bread, you’ve had quick bread. Soda bread is leavened with baking soda, which gives it its namesake.
What You Need
You need just 4 ingredients to make soda bread: flour, baking soda, a little salt, and buttermilk. The baking soda reacts with the acidity of the buttermilk, creating tiny bubbles in the dough, giving soda bread its signature texture. You don’t even need to knead it. It’s so easy that I could make it with a two-year-old at my knees screaming for Yo Gabba Gabba. (If you are currently sharing space with a two-year-old, my thoughts and prayers are with you. #neveragain)
Why Don’t You Need To Knead It?
You knead bread to develop gluten strands, rubberband-like proteins that help bread rise. They create a net that traps all of the gas developed by bread made with yeast. Because soda bread is not yeasted bread, kneading it just makes it dense and hard. To develop its trademark soft crumb, you touch the dough as little as possible while shaping it. If you prefer a chewier kneaded bread texture but don’t want to put in all that work, try our easy No-Knead Bread recipe.
Where Does This Recipe Come From?
Many cultures worldwide make some form of soda bread, and it is thought to have been created by Native Americans. However, the most commonly known recipe is for Irish soda bread. It became a popular recipe in Ireland during the famine when bread had to be made from cheap ingredients: soft wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and sour milk.
What Else Can I Add To Soda Bread?
Traditionally, Irish soda bread is just four ingredients. But Irish Americans add currants or caraway seeds to the dough. You can also add a few teaspoons of citrus zest or your favorite fresh herbs. For a fun twist, try it with Everything Bagel seasoning. It’s truly a blank canvas, so don’t be scared to experiment with your favorite flavors.
What To Serve With Soda Bread
Soda bread is perfect for sopping up that last bit of sauce or stew. For a perfect pairing, check out these recipes.
Easy Soda Bread
Servings 8 slicesIngredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.27)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.01)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.06)
- 1 cup buttermilk* ($0.32)
Instructions
- Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 450°F. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until they are fully incorporated.
- Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and fill the well with the buttermilk.
- Use a fork to incorporate the flour into the buttermilk little by little until a thick batter forms. Use your hands to incorporate the final bits of flour and gently shape the batter into a dough. Do not overwork the dough.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and gently shape it into a round 6 inches in diameter and about 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Place the dough in a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet. Use a sharp knife to cut a large x into the top of the dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then lower the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking until the bread is golden brown and crusty on the outside, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Easy Soda Bread – Step by Step Photos
Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 450°F. Mix the 2 cups of flour, the 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and the 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl until they are fully incorporated.
Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and fill the well with the buttermilk.
Use a fork to incorporate the flour into the buttermilk little by little until a thick batter forms. Use your hands to incorporate the final bits of flour and gently shape the batter into a dough. Do not overwork the dough.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and gently shape it into a round 6 inches in diameter and about 1 1/2 inches thick.
Place the loaf in a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet. Use a sharp knife to cut a large x into the top of the dough.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then lower the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking until the bread is golden brown and crusty on the outside, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.
Enjoy the warm, cozy soda bread with a thick smear of butter and your favorite bowl of soup!
Hearty, flavorful, and it comes together *so* fast! Seriously, it came together in like five minutes, and half an hour later we had warm, delicious bread…that was immediately half-devoured. :)
I made the soda bread today it was delicious
We celebrated St Patrick’s day with our homeschool group. We brought this bread and it was a hit. We made three loaves. One with the original recipe, second loaf added raisins and cinnamon sugar topping, and last loaf added everything bagel seasoning. They all came out amazing! Cinnamon raisin was the crowd favorite. Thanks for this easy recipe.
This did not work for me at all.
I followed the directions exactly. The dough was very wet and the finished product is now stuck (more like glued) to the bottom of my Dutch oven. Very frustrating since it’s such a simple recipe :(
This happened to me also. I ended up adding probably another cup of flour just to get the consistency workable. It’s in the over now, but I’m afraid it’s not going to turn out right… ☹️
Thought maybe I would try 1/2 cup of buttermilk next time and see what happens.
Hi, I just made this bread and I added rosemary to it and rubbed a little melted butter on top and let me tell you…..I was laughing at my daughter because she wouldn’t stop eating it! It was supposed to be for our st Patrick’s day dinner! Lol I loved it was soooo easy to make! Thank you for this.
So, it doesn’t say but do you put the lid on the Dutch oven or not?????
No lid!
No-knead is my favorite bread to make by personal texture preference BUT this has become my go-to “didn’t set any dough to rise the night before and now there’s pea soup and no bread” bread. It comes out perfect every time and had a nice crumbly texture that reminds me of cornbread. Thanks!
I am also looking for a recipe called “ Ezekiel bread”. I am diabetic and it is a low carb and low sugar tasty bread that won’t effect my Glycemic levels at all.
Loved it! Only difference is I cooked it on baking sheet for 30 mins at 450 since it wasn’t in a Dutch oven.
Do you have to use a cast iron skillet or dutch oven to cook the soda bread? Or is it ok to use a glass or aluminum dish like a pie pan?
Hi, there! Any kind of baking dish will work. You can even bake it on a sheet tray lined with parchment or a pizza stone. ~Marion :)
Do you put the dutch oven/skillet in the oven while its preheating? Then add the loaf once everything is pre heated? Thanks!
That isn’t necessary with this recipe. Just make sure the oven is fully preheated before you put the loaf in the oven and it should work out perfectly. ~ Marion :)
Do you out the lid on or not???,
No lid!
I’ve made this recipe with both sour milk and buttermilk. When I’ve made it with sour milk I’ve had to add extra flour. I’ve only used buttermilk from Trader Joe’s. It is very thick compared to the sour milk. My kids love it and it is an easy side for soup.
Can this recipe be doubled ?
Hi, Vicki! You can definitely double the recipe! However, I would still suggest baking it as two separate loaves. Otherwise, that amount of dough will probably not bake properly (at least in the same amount of time, or at the same oven temperatures) as it does in the recipe that we tested. – Marion :)
Yum! I did have to adjust the flour to milk ratio a bit. I’m a beginner baker, so I’m not sure what was making the dough so batter-like, but I found that 2 1/2 cups flour and 3/4 cup milk worked better for me. Maybe because of the elevation? Or humidity? Anyways, it was delicious with soup!
It is definitely a sticky dough. And you did the exact right thing by adding more flour. I just made it for the Today Show a few days ago, and the recipe I have been using for ten years came out batter-like as well. I used the same ingredients, and the same measurements, and on the second run, it came out perfect. Beats me. Sometimes baking can be fickle as all get out. XOXO -Monti
I think I found the problem! I had been using flour from Dollar Tree. Last weekend they were out of flour, so I picked up a bag from the regular grocery store. The name-brand flour thickened the dough much better than the Dollar Tree flour. I didn’t have to use nearly as much.
Delicious and insanely easy! I’ve made it both as written and with half whole wheat, half AP flour – both are delicious, but the half/half wins for me! Great recipe and very easy to play around with!
I used a crockpot as my dutch oven, and I’m not sure what I did wrong because the center of the bread wasn’t as crumby as I was hoping. Should I adjust the timing or the temperature?
Hi Helen- Take the loaf out of the oven and use your hand to “knock” on the top of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, the loaf is ready. If it doesn’t sound hollow, it means it hasn’t cooked through, and you should keep it in the oven for a few more minutes. XOXO -Monti
I’ve never made soda bread before and I can’t believe how easy and delicious this was! I’d add a little more salt next time because I use kosher salt which isn’t as salty. The crumb on this bread was so great! My days of buying bread maybe over!
Wooooot!!! So stoked to hear that! Thanks, Amy. XOXO -Monti