Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe
This incredibly easy Irish Soda Bread recipe is simply made in a cast iron skillet. It is slightly sweet and perfectly delicious.
Serve it up warm out of the oven with a slice of butter or with your favorite family dinner.
Easy Irish Soda Bread
This Irish soda bread has been a long time favorite in our home. I’ve adapted it over the years from scraps of paper in our family cookbook.
What I like most about this rustic bread, is that it is incredibly simple to make.
It isn’t one of those breads that takes time to rise and a lot of kneading. In fact, it only takes a small amount of gentle kneading to pull the dough together.
Too much kneading and the bread comes out too tough.
Tips for Making Cast Iron Bread
This recipe is made in a cast iron skillet and it is the preferred method. But you could also make this recipe on a baking sheet. It will need a little adjustment to the time.
The cast iron skillet takes a little longer to heat up so the bread will need a little more time to cook. About 40-45 minutes.
And with a sheet pan, it would only need somewhere between 35-40 minutes.
If the outside of the bread is becoming too dark, use a bit of foil to create a tent to help prevent further browning.
And even though my skillet is well seasoned, I also use a little bit of parchment paper to line the bottom of the skillet. This helps me with clean up.
Hey, I have four small children! I’m all about shortcuts these days.
Skillet Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups of flour
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups of raisins
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Using your fingers (or a pastry cutter), work the butter into the flour mixture until well combined. I definitely prefer to use my hands for this. The mixture will resemble crumbly sand. Stir in the raisins.
- Mix in the beaten egg and buttermilk with a wooden spoon until combined.
- Use a bit of flour on the countertop and gently knead the dough just long enough to form a rough ball. Be really careful not to over knead. If you over knead, the bread will come out tough. This bread will be a bit sticky, if it is too sticky to work with, add a bit more flour. But you also want to be careful not to add too much.
- Place the dough ball into a lightly greased cast iron skillet. I use a 10 inch skillet and I also use parchment paper for easy clean up!
- Use a knife to score the top of the dough into an "X" about an inch deep.
- Bake about 40-45 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to rest about 5-10 minutes and then remove the bread from the skillet.
- Serve warm with a slice of butter!
