Sourdough Irish Soda Bread Recipe

This sourdough Irish Soda Bread Recipe is super quick to make and will fill your kitchen with the smell of fresh baked bread in under an hour.

Course Bread

Cuisine American, Irish

Keyword Sourdough Discard, Sourdough Recipes

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 295kcal

Ingredients

250 g All Purpose Flour (plain or bread flour is fine)
250 g Whole Wheat Flour
15 g Salt
15 g Baking Soda (bicarb soda)
350 g Buttermilk (see notes for alternatives)
100 g Sourdough Starter (100% hydration)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 428F (220C). Line a baking tray or cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk and sourdough starter and stir until it's bubbly and well combined.
Pour the buttermilk and sourdough starter liquid into the dry ingredients and quickly mix to form a sticky dough.
Lightly dust your counter top with flour and tip the dough out. Knead the dough around 8 to 10 times. Less is more with this bread.
Now form the dough into a rough round and place onto the parchment lined baking tray.
Press the dough down to around 1" thick and then slash a cross on the top using a sharp knife or lame.
Bake for 20 minutes at 428F (220C) and then turn the oven down to 392F (200C) and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly before slicing. This bread is best eaten warm.

Notes

This recipe uses BAKING SODA or BICARBONATE OF SODA not baking powder. It's important to use the right one. You'll generally find it in the baking aisle of your grocery store.

You can use only all purpose flour rather than a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour. I do recommend using the whole wheat though as it gives the bread a much better flavor.

If you don't have any buttermilk, use 330g of whole milk with 20g of white vinegar or lemon juice added to it. Leave the milk and vinegar for a few minutes while it thickens and then use it in this great recipe.

The dough is sticky, but you should be able to handle it and shape it into a rough ball. It doesn't need to be perfect as this is a rustic recipe. It should be just sticky enough to handle. Use extra flour with caution as you don't want the bread to be too dry.

Try to get the dough in the oven as quickly as possible so that you get the best rise from the baking soda. Once the wet ingredients have been mixed with the dry ingredients, you want to get it in the oven within 5 minutes.

Nutrition