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Overhead photo of plate with slices of Irish Soda Bread, butter in a small round dish and a silver knife.
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5 from 1 vote

Irish Soda Bread

This Irish Soda Bread is a family favorite for St. Patrick's Day! It's incredibly moist and loaded with currants and golden raisins.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time1 hour 35 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Irish
Keyword: caraway seeds, currants, raisins, Soda Bread, St. Patrick's Day
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 457kcal
Author: MaryAnn Dwyer

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds
  • 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 2 cups cold buttermilk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup dried currants
  • 1 cup golden raisins

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray a 9x2-inch deep pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together 4 1/4 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caraway seeds. Add the butter and mix on low speed until coarse crumbs form. 
  • In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. With the mixer on low, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture just until incorporated.
  • Toss the currants and raisins with the remaining 1/4 cup flour, and add to the dough. Dough will be sticky. Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface. Sprinkle the dough a bit with some flour as it will be hard to shape into a loaf without some and form into a round, domed loaf. Place into prepared pie plate. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep X in the top of the loaf. Bake until the loaf is cooked though and a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool in the pie plate for 15 minutes, then move to wire rack to cool completely. Can be served warm with butter or at room temperature.

Notes

The caraway seeds are optional in this recipes. If you're not a fan, just omit.
Make sure to cut the X at the top of your loaf before baking. This is called scoring. When bread bakes it quickly expands when it is first placed in the oven and scoring controls the expansion.

Nutrition

Calories: 457kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 389mg | Potassium: 507mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 345IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 4mg