Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread: Step by Step

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1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F fan and dust a baking tray with flour. Get this done before you mix anything.

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2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.

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3. Pour in most of the buttermilk with the honey if using, and bring it together with one hand held like a claw, turning the bowl. Add the rest of the buttermilk only if there is dry flour left.

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4. Stop the moment it comes together as a soft, sticky dough. It should take about 30 seconds.

   Mark done Start 30 sec timer

5. Tip onto a floured surface, turn it over twice to shape a round, and flatten slightly to about 5 cm high.

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6. Set it on the tray and cut a deep cross right across the top, going about two-thirds of the way down.

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7. Bake 15 minutes at 200°C / 390°F fan, then turn down to 180°C / 355°F fan and bake another 25 to 30 minutes.

   Mark done Start 25 min timer

8. It is done when the base sounds hollow. Cool on a rack under a clean tea towel for a soft crust, or uncovered for a crisp one.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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What Can Go Wrong

1. Oven hot before you start mixing. The reaction is already running.
2. Thirty seconds of handling, no more. This is not a bread you knead.
3. The deep cross is not decoration — it lets the middle cook through.

If You're Missing Something

• Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.

What to Serve It With

Salted butter · Irish stew · Smoked salmon

Leftovers

Best on the day. Keeps 2 days wrapped, toasts well after that, and freezes 2 months.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. How the figures are worked out.