Homemade Irish Soda Bread with Raisins (Brown Bread)

This 6-ingredient traditional Irish soda bread with raisins is bursting with flavor and comes together in under 1 hour.

Irish soda bread is simple to prepare bread that uses baking soda as a leavening agent to help it rise. It has few ingredients and bakes in under 45 minutes for an incredibly flavorful loaf. Soda bread typically is very dense and heavy, which will fill you up quickly.

In Ireland, soda bread is better known as brown bread and uses a combination of whole wheat and unbleached white flour. You can do a simply 50/50 split between the flours or a 25/75 of whole wheat to white flour, which is what I did.

Ingredients for this recipe:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup raisins

Serves 8

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Bake Time: 40 minutes

Procedures:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flours, baking soda, and sea salt, and then whisk until combined.
3. Form a well and add in the buttermilk and egg and whisk until the egg is mixed into the buttermilk.
4. Pour in the raisins and then using your hands mix all of the ingredients together to form a dough.
5. Transfer the dough to a clean surface dusted with flour and form it into a ball.
6. Place the dough onto a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper and slightly flatten it, so that it’s about 2” to 3” thick.
7. Using a knife make two slices about ¾” deep forming a cross.
8. If you want, you can sprinkle on 1-2 tablespoons of turbinado or coarse sugar at this stage.
9. Bake at 400° for 35-40 minutes or until browned on top and cooked in the center.
10. Cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.

Chef Notes:

Make-Ahead: You can make this bread up to 1 day ahead of time.

How to Store: Cover and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This bread will freeze well covered for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving.

If you do not have buttermilk, you can make it by whisking together 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice with 1 cup of whole milk.

The bread should reach 195° internally when finished.

If for some reason your dough is a little dry, add in 1-2 tablespoons of water, or simply wet your hands, while mixing the dough together.