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By Courtney ODell
5 from 3 votes
Feb 14, 2019, Updated Mar 23, 2024
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This Is the Best Easy Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe – delicious easy brown soda bread with simple ingredients, a light and moist crumb, and goes great with creamy butter and jam for a great quick Irish bread recipe!
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This post is sponsored by Princess Cruises. All opinions are 100% my own. I love to partner with companies I personally use and trust – and think my readers would too.
Best Easy Irish Brown Soda Bread
I was recently lucky enough to take the trip of a lifetime – cruising around the British Isles for a magical two weeks full of amazing sights, tons of laughs, and the best food you could imagine.
One of the reasons I love cruising with Princess Cruises is truly the food – (I know many people might be wondering “Is Food on a Cruise Ship Good??”) but I can honestly say everything I had on board was out of the park delicious – though my absolute favorite thing I ate the entire trip came from a gorgeous little cottage in County Down, about forty minutes drive from Belfast.
While at the home of Tracey (who hosts amazing, personal food tours that help connect visitors to Ireland’s rich culinary history in a fun and delicious hands-on afternoon), we learned to make two different Irish quick breads – a basic soda bread and a potato bread.
While both breads we got to make were amazing (recipes coming soon!) – one of the stars for me was a brown soda bread that Tracey served that reminded me of my family’s Brown Soda Bread Recipe I am sharing here today!
Traditional Irish Bread Making Belfast Shore Excursion
We started off the excursion with a short tour of Belfast, including a visit to the Peace Wall and some of the murals along Falls Road and Shankhill Road.
I had already visited the wall before as a part of a trip to Belfast in 2016 – but as the murals and the wall graffiti change often, it was an entirely new experience even just two years out.
After a quick city tour, we drove past some of the most gorgeous scenery ever through rolling hills, sprawling blue lochs, and cute country cottages until we reached Tracey’s gorgeous thatched roof cottage.
Tracey greeted us with a huge smile and welcomed us into her home, where we were greeted with an amazing spread set up for tea with a bunch of warm traditional Irish breads, butter, homemade jams and preserves, Irish seaweed, and of course plenty of coffee and tea.
The seaweed might sound odd with bread – but the salty snack was heavenly over warm bread with butter for a salty kick!
We immediately swooned over the house, the surroundings, and all of the food – Tracey is a fabulous host.
After an amazing tea and tons of breads and butters, we headed into Tracey’s kitchen to learn all about traditional Irish breads from her and her chef!
They made two varieties, and then had us try our hand at some.
It was so easy and fun to make our own breads (everyone had a skillet to cook on, and everyone got to try either potato bread or soda bread – such a fun and hands on way to connect with one of Ireland’s most loved and treasured foods!)
When we were done, we got to sample out Irish Potato Bread that we made and even got to bring a bunch back to the ship with us!
Tracey even had us sample some of her homemade goods like an outstanding fruit infused Gin, butters, and fruit from her yard!
It was honestly one of the best shore excursions I’ve ever done – and if you’re on a Princess Cruise to the British Isles (which I HIGHLY recommend), a can’t miss Belfast excursion for me!
What is Irish Soda Bread
One of the best parts of the shore excursion was learning about Irish Soda Bread and why it’s so important in Ireland – as well as what soda bread is!
Soda bread can sound a little funny- but it’s just bread from self rising flour (or flour with baking soda already added.)
There are a couple of other ingredients you can add to make the bread your own or to make it have different flavors and textures.
More Delicious Bread Recipes
These delicious breads are some of my favorites, try them next:
Click here to see all our bread recipes!
The Best Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe
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Best Easy Irish Brown Soda Bread
This Is The Best Easy Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe – delicious easy brown soda bread with simple ingredients, a light and moist crumb, and goes great with creamy butter and jam for a great quick Irish bread recipe!
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Irish
Keyword baking powder bread, baking soda bread, Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe, Irish Soda Bread, quick breads
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes minutes
Total Time 45 minutes minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 317kcal
Author Courtney O’Dell
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups King Arthur Irish-style wholemeal flour or substitute whole wheat flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, stirring to combine well.
Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk and melted butter.
Bring the dough together with a fork until it is damp and some flour remains in the bottom of the bowl.
Dump the dough and excess flour onto a clean counter and knead together, about 5 to 10 times, until it’s a solid mass and holds its shape (It’s OK if some flour remains on the counter).
Transfer the dough to a greased sheet tray and cut a cross shape into the dough with your knife.
Place in a 400 degree F oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Rotate pan and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and continue baking for 30 minutes, or until the outside is nicely browned, it sounds hallow when you tap it, and a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then slice and serve with rich Irish butter and jam.
This bread is best right out of the oven and will only stay fresh for 2-3 days, perfect for a weekend.
To enjoy the next day, reheat in the oven until warmed through. Or, you can freeze the bread wrapped tightly in plastic then wrapped in foil for up to 3 weeks.
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 850mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 7g
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Categorized as:
Appetizers, Breads, Breakfast, Cruising, Irish, Recipes, Side Dishes, Travel Recipes
About Courtney
Courtney loves to share great wine, good food, and loves to explore far flung places- all while masting an everyday elegant and easy style at lifestyle blog Sweet C’s Designs. Sweet C's devoted to finding the best food and drinks you'll want to make or find, around the world!
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