Description
This recipe for World’s Best No Yeast Bread, also known as Irish Soda Bread, is a quick and easy bread that uses baking soda as a leavening agent instead of yeast. It combines white and wholemeal flours for a wholesome texture, and is moistened with cold buttermilk, resulting in a rustic, slightly dense bread with a crispy crust. Perfect for when you want fresh homemade bread without the wait for yeast dough to rise.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups white flour (plain / all purpose)
- 1 3/4 cups wholemeal flour (wholewheat)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 – 3 tbsp extra flour (either flour, for dusting)
Wet Ingredients
- 2 cups buttermilk (fridge cold)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Set your oven to 220°C / 430°F (200°C fan) to ensure it reaches the perfect temperature for baking the bread.
- Prepare Baking Tray: Line a baking tray with baking paper to prevent the bread from sticking during baking.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Whisk together the white flour, wholemeal flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until well combined.
- Add Buttermilk: Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir the mixture until the dough becomes too stiff to stir further.
- Dust Work Surface: Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the extra flour onto your work surface to prepare for kneading the dough.
- Shape Dough: Scrape the dough out onto the floured surface, sprinkle with more flour as needed, and gently knead no more than 8 times to bring dough together into a ball. Avoid over-kneading to keep the bread tender.
- Form Disc: Transfer the dough ball onto the lined tray and pat it into a disc about 2.5cm / 1 inch thick.
- Score Bread: Using a serrated knife, cut a cross shape on the surface about 1cm / 0.3 inch deep. This helps the bread bake evenly and creates the traditional soda bread look.
- Bake First Phase: Place the bread in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes at 220°C / 430°F (200°C fan).
- Bake Second Phase: Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan) and continue baking for another 20 minutes, or until the base sounds hollow when tapped in the center.
- Cool Bread: Transfer the baked bread to a wire rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing to complete the baking process and develop texture.
Notes
- Use wholemeal flour for a denser, more nutritious loaf; white flour alone would create a lighter texture but less flavor.
- Baking soda reacts immediately with buttermilk acidity; therefore, no rising time is necessary.
- Cold buttermilk helps achieve a tender crumb and proper texture.
- Knead gently and minimally to avoid developing too much gluten, which can toughen the bread.
- Ensure the cross cut is deep enough to allow steam to escape and proper even baking.
- Cooling on a rack prevents sogginess from trapped moisture under the bread.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Irish
Keywords: Irish Soda Bread, no yeast bread, quick bread, baking soda bread, homemade bread, Irish bread
