Irish Brown Soda Bread
Updated Aug. 15, 2022
- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1¾cups/288 grams whole wheat flour
- 1¾cups/224 grams all-purpose flour, more as needed
- 1teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- 2tablespoons/28 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1egg
- 1⅔cups/395 milliliters buttermilk
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
278 calories; 5 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 50 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 290 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda. Use your fingertips to work the butter into the flour mixture.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, beat the egg and buttermilk together. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Dough should be soft but not sticky; add a bit more all-purpose flour if necessary.
- Step 3
Put dough on a lightly floured board and knead together gently, just enough to form a round loaf. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cut a deep cross on top.
- Step 4
Bake for 15 minutes, then turn heat to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more, until nicely browned. To tell whether it's done, thump the bottom of the loaf with your fingertips; it should sound hollow. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing, if possible.
Private Notes
Comments
Traditional Irish brown soda bread is made with wheat meal, not wheat flour. Wheat meal is coarser than flour and cannot be sifted. The texture bread made with wheat meal is more like that of cornbread than of American wheat bread. Unfortunately, the only way that I've found to get wheatmeal in the US is to order it online. It's worth doing so, I think.
I've been making soda bread for 20 years! Helen is correct that the texture should be more like cornbread but finding coarse wheat flour is tricky. So I substitute 1 cup of oatbran for a cup of the flour. And I don't use any butter or egg. The oat bran makes for a very moist loaf (unlike wheat bran, oatbran absorbs water). And I use 2 tsp of soda since the oatbran needs a bit more umph to rise. Sometimes I throw in sunflower, flax or pumpkin seeds. Sometimes a handful of oatmeal.
I have to agree with this, just based on a trip to the West Coast of Ireland several years ago. Irish Brown Bread is a wonderful creature! I found that the big difference was the flour and promptly set out to find a source...and discovered that King Arthur Flour has an "Irish style" flour that works quite well in approximating the beautiful bread that I remember so well from my trip.
I was looking for a recipe that would be similar to a bread I had in Ireland. I made this and it turned out really good with a wonderful texture. I added 1/4cup of wheat germ and a tbsp of molasses based on some other recipes I saw. Very flavorful and moist. I would make it again. It didn’t have the same nice dome appearance but the crumb was perfect.
I subbed sprouted whole wheat flour for the whole wheat and made per the recipe. It’s delicious with some Irish butter. Hubby likes it :-)
All the flour comments sent me shopping for alternatives. As suggested, I replaced a cup of the flour with oat bran. I also replaced the all purpose flour with einkorn and for the whole wheat, I found Chimacum Valley Grainery’s Climate Change Blend which is much coarser than regular whole wheat. It is available online. Results were fantastic.