Before you start
Soda bread is the loaf you can decide to make at five and eat at six. There's no yeast and no rising time: buttermilk and baking soda do the lifting the moment they meet. The whole thing depends on handling the dough as little as humanly possible.
Everything you need
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cups (429 g) buttermilk
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp (13 g) granulated sugar
Weigh, don't scoop. Measuring flour by cups can overpack it and dry out your bake. Tap any ingredient to open its converter.
Method
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Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F and line a tray with baking paper.
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Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
For this step
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp (13 g) granulated sugar
-
Pour in the buttermilk and stir with a fork just until a shaggy, sticky dough comes together. Don't knead it.
For this step
- 1¾ cups (429 g) buttermilk
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter
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Tip onto a floured surface and pat it into a round about 5 cm tall, using six or seven turns at most. The less you work it, the lighter the loaf.
For this step
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
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Put it on the tray and cut a deep cross most of the way through the top, so the heat reaches the middle.
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Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding when you tap the base. Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting.
Baker's tips
- Work fast. The soda starts reacting with the buttermilk immediately, and a dough left sitting on the counter loses its lift.
- No buttermilk? Stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice into 1¾ cups milk and leave it for 10 minutes.
Make it your own
- Add 100 g raisins and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds for a sweeter American-style loaf.
- Swap 1 cup of the flour for whole-wheat flour for a nuttier, denser crumb.
Storing & freezing
Best on the day it's baked. Wrap in a tea towel for 2 days, then toast it. It freezes well sliced for 2 months.
Frequently asked
Why is my soda bread dense and heavy?
Almost always overworking. Mix and pat it just until it holds together, since kneading develops gluten that soda alone can't lift.
Why cut a cross in the top?
It lets heat into the centre of a thick round so the middle cooks through before the crust hardens, and it makes the loaf easy to tear into wedges.
Baking in a different unit? Use the cups ↔ grams converter or the recipe scaler to halve or double this recipe.
More to bake
A note on cooking safely. Recipes are provided for informational purposes only and are not medical or nutritional advice. Cooking times, temperatures and quantities are suggestions: use your own judgement, and check that meat, poultry, fish and eggs are properly cooked before serving.
Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making dietary changes, particularly if you have allergies, a medical condition or specific nutritional requirements.