Sourdough Irish Soda Bread
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This sourdough Irish Soda Bread recipe is very quick and easy to make. This version uses a traditional Irish soda bread recipe, but with the added depth of flavor your sourdough starter brings. You can use sourdough discard or active starter, it doesn't matter in this recipe, since baking soda is the leavening agent.
If you're looking for some other recipes ready for St Patrick's Day you might also enjoy this Sourdough Bread made with Irish Guinness Beer, sourdough Irish brown bread or this sourdough beef and Guinness stew served with sourdough herb dumplings.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Using basic ingredients, sourdough Irish Soda Bread is a very quick recipe to make since there is no fermentation time at room temperature - you literally mix, shape and bake! You'll have delicious sourdough soda bread in one hour! Get that Irish butter ready!
With no waiting time, you might also have time to make a few other quick sourdough recipes like no wait sourdough waffles, sourdough banana fritters or sourdough banana bread. And if none of those take your fancy, then you could try one of these sourdough discard recipes.
What is Irish Soda Bread?
Irish Soda Bread is more like a scone in texture than a yeasted loaf, making it a type of quick bread. It originated in Ireland, where soft wheat didn’t work well with commercial yeast. When bicarbonate of soda became available, it paired perfectly with the local flour and buttermilk—a natural byproduct of butter-making. The lactic acid in buttermilk reacts with the soda to give the bread its rise.
Traditionally, soda bread was made with orange zest, currants, and other dried fruit, and served with tea. While many modern recipes add eggs, this often makes the bread heavy, so I’ve chosen to stick with a more traditional version. A cross is cut into the top before baking—not only to help it rise, but also to bless the bread (or ward off the devil, depending on who you ask).
Ingredients
- Flour - there's no bread flour needed here, just a blend of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour.
- Salt - salt is necessary for flavor here, adjust to your own taste.
- Baking Soda - Also called bicarbonate of soda, this is where traditional soda bread gets its name from. Baking soda is also providing the leavening here.
- Buttermilk - is traditionally used in Irish soda bread because the acidity in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, creating the leavening. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can use a buttermilk alternative, as long as it has an acidic ingredient (I've included details on this further down the page).
- Sourdough Starter - you can choose to use active sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard for this recipe since it's not providing the leavening here, the baking soda is.
How To Make Sourdough Irish Soda Bread
Sourdough Irish Soda Bread is wonderfully simple to make, and a fun way to get the kids involved in sourdough baking. Best of all, you don’t have to wait long to enjoy it; it’s delicious served warm from the oven with cultured butter and jam. It also makes a quick breakfast (perfect if you’ve run out of bread) and is a lovely way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with friends. Just remember, this recipe requires bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), not baking powder.
To make it, you’ll mix dry ingredients (flours, salt, and baking soda) in one bowl, and wet ingredients (buttermilk with sourdough starter) in another. Combine the two, knead lightly, then shape the sticky dough into a round, slash a cross on top of the bread with a sharp knife, and bake until golden brown. In less than an hour, you’ll have a rustic, hearty loaf ready to share.
Kate's Recipe Tips
- 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.
- I recommend baking this sourdough Irish soda bread on a baking sheet or sheet pan lined with parchment paper in an open oven, but you can choose to use a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet if you prefer.
Recipe Variations for Soda Bread
While this sourdough soda bread tastes incredible as it is, there are always a few things you can add to take it to the next level. Here are a few suggestions:
- The zest of an orange and 100g of currants or raisins (the smell of this is out of this world amazing).
- Add a handful of rolled oats to the flour mixture and then roll the ball of dough in oats before slashing it. Serve this with homemade butter and fresh honey or maple syrup.
- Caraway seeds are a popular addition to Irish soda bread.
- For something a little fun, add 100g to 200g of your favorite chocolate chips. When it's baked, cut into wedges and serve with this honey cinnamon butter. Delicious!
How to Store + Freeze
This sourdough Irish soda bread is best eaten fresh, warm out of the oven. I recommend eating it within a few hours of baking. It's really not designed to be baked and stored or frozen. So bake it and enjoy it fresh, as it was always meant to be!
Frequently Asked Questions
No they are not the same. Irish soda bread is leavened with baking soda, whereas sourdough bread is leavened with natural yeast from a sourdough starter. Soda bread is not fermented, unlike sourdough bread which needs a lengthy fermentation time due to the wild yeast.
Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda can be used in sourdough bread to create a less sour loaf. Added after bulk fermentation, but before shaping, it can help to create a lighter, more fluffy loaf of sourdough. It can be difficult to incorporate the baking soda after bulk fermentation though as they dough cannot be kneaded at this point.
Both types of bread use flour and contain refined carbohydrates. Sourdough bread would be considered healthier in the fact that it is a fermented food with lower gluten levels, making it easier to digest.
Sourdough Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g All Purpose Flour (plain or bread flour is fine)
- 250 g Whole Wheat Flour
- 10 g Salt (adjust to taste)
- 12 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
Nutrition
I'm not seeing anything in the notes about alternatives for buttermilk.
It's in the sections entitled "how to bake Irish Soda Bread without buttermilk" about half way down the post 🙂 xo
The grams of salt and soda in this recipe don't coincide with the 1.5 tsp measurements. I used the grams against my better judgement and the bread was way too salty. Next time will use 1.5 tsp!
Super easy to make. Love that. But it smells and tastes like baking soda. 3 tsp/15g seems like ablot. It was inedible for us. I may try it again with less baking soda.
Made it for the first time this morning. I made it exactly as the recipe states, but found it to be too salty. I would reduce the salt and add some honey for more flavour.
The grams for the salt and baking soda don't match up with the 1.5 tsp amounts. I am baking this right now and decided to use the grams amounts since everything else was being weighed on my scale. But just curious which is correct?
This baked up well but the baking soda taste was way too noticeable for my liking. Other comparable recipes only use 1 tsp. of baking soda whereas this recipe uses 15grams (about 2.5 tsp)!
Hi Kate, this bread was way too salty. I have made lots of your recipes, all the rest are awesome. This was not good.
I making this while the outside temp is believe zero and my house just isn’t as warm as normal. My starter is bubbly, but not rising like normal. I use sit anyway and my bread didn’t rise much at all. Could the room temps affect this? Looks yummy still 😊
I’d like to try this for half the 1x serving size of 8.
Would I just cut the weights in half? 😅
Thanks for your help.
no sugar? can i add 3-4 tablespoons
How old is too old for discard? Mine is 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Would that work or do I need to feed it first?
I'm not seeing discard in the recipe. It looks like regular sourdough bread, except for the buttermilk.
Sourdough starter is the last ingredient in the list. It's definitely not the same as regular sourdough bread 🙂
I found this to be quite salty. If I were to make it again, I think I’d decrease the salt to 10 grams rather than 15
Could this recipe be halved? What would the bake time be? Thank you!
Yes you can halve this recipe. I would still bake it for the same time though.
Amazing! I love your site so much. I literally find something every week but never review. (So sorry)
Thank you so much for your review and comment! It's much appreciated and we're so happy you love the recipes. 🙂
I should have read the comments first! Definitely too salty and too much soda. I'd say halve the amounts given. Other than that it is good and a useful way to use up my sourdough discard.
Too salty and didn't take 40 min, to bake. It was browned at 20min. but I let it cook another 7 min. consistency was nice but too salty made eating limited.
The first time I made this bread, it came out really good, and I followed the directions pretty much to the letter. The second time I changed it up a bit by adding 28 g of molasses and increased the starter to 150 g. But this time, after initially mixing the flours with the starter and the buttermilk, I let it sit for 30 minutes, then I added the salt and baking soda (mixed together with 2TBL water). I folded it into the dough by hand, and then I stuck the dough into my proofer for around 3 1/2 hours. I knew my starter was very strong, and I thought why not allow it to do its thing? So, the end product was quite good! It was kind of a cross between a sourdough bread and the “quick” soda bread. The crumb was extra tender, but it still had that consistency of a denser soda bread. And I love what the molasses did for it because it gave it a little bit more richness and just a touch of sweetness. Excellent!
Sounds wonderful, Richard! Thank you so much for sharing your process 🙂
Made several of your recipes before, all super, made this Irish Soda Bread for the first time today, wow, all family loved it, great taste and smell!!
Will be making again
Didn’t have buttermilk so used live yoghurt and milk 👍