Traditional Irish Soda Bread (aka wheaten bread) is a National Treasure. Easy Recipe to try at home

MemoirsofaMountainGirl
Apr 21, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Jun 12, 2020

Wheaten bread as to be the most versatile bread I have ever come across (and regrettably I do love my bread). You can dress it up for afternoon tea with cream cheese and smoked salmon, or dress it down with butter and Jam. It's perfect with soup, it's perfect with stew, it's perfect for a ploughman's lunch, it's perfect toasted or perfect on its own. This is a great loaf to have at home when guests pop over as you can serve it with a cup of tea or Guinness - or whatever your heart desires - because the receiver will love it regardless. As long as it served fresh its win win (and it will always be fresh as it won't stay in the pantry for too long before it is devoured). Maybe I am a bit biased, but I love nothing more than coming home to my local bakery and stocking up on fresh wheaten bread. It makes my heart sing. So much so I have tried to recreate it in London with my own recipe. After many attempts I think iv'e finally nailed it. The good news - anyone can master this and once you do it will become a staple in your household. I promise.

Wheaten Bread Recipe. Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Total Prep and Bake Time: 50 -60 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy Bake

Ingredients:

500 grams of self-raising wholewheat flour (option to split 250 grams of plain white flour and 250 grams of wholewheat flour)
500 milliliters of buttermilk
1 (heaped) teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 (heaped) teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil (or a generous swirl)
1 egg
1/4 of a slab of butter or 50 grams (salted or unsalted but I use slightly salted because I love it!)
a sprinkle of brown sugar (optional not required)
Optional: feel free to add a handful of porridge oats to add texture to the bread. This is a coarse bread

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes whilst you prepare the bread mixture
Add the flour to a large mixing bowl and add in the bicarbonate of soda and the salt (and the sugar and porridge oats if you want to include them in the mix)
Heat the butter slightly in a pan then add to the mix
beat the egg and add to the mix along with the butter milk
Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon (I prefer this to using a food processor as you don't want the mixture to become to fine) but we will want it mixed well all the same so use a bit of elbow grease. Bonus - this is a great workout for your arm!
Add in the olive oil, give a final stir and add the mixture to a bread tin (pre-greased with butter!)
Lastly, sprinkle the top of the mixture with some crushed porridge oats and plain flour and pop in the oven for approx 35 minutes.
When you remove from the oven - poke the bread through with a metal skewer (or whatever you have to hand) - if it removes easily without any dough stuck to it then you are good to go - if it is still a bit gooey in the center put it back in for another 5 minutes or so. You want the bread a golden brown on the top
Remove from the baking tin and set to cool on a rack
Once cool, slice with a bread knife and serve fresh with butter. (don't worry if the crust flakes off a little when you slice - this is quite common. Waste not want not.
Taa daa - sit back and admire your masterpiece and everyone's faces of delight when they tuck into your freshly made wheaten bread. You are a star baker!

Soda bread was traditionally made into a dough ball and cooked on a griddle pan, if you want to make the bread in a more traditional sense, you can exclude the egg and the olive oil from the steps and then just mold the mixture into a round ball ish shape. Slice / score the top of the bread with a criss-cross and put tin the oven. Iv'e tried both methods and much prefer using the baking tin method with the egg and olive oil as it is a little more moist but whatever you fancy yourself. Experiment with it - the recipe isn't too precious.