Irish Soda Bread

3 cups flour or 3 cups America’s Test Kitchen Gluten Free flour blend + 2¼ tsp xanthan gum or 3 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free flour or 3 cups of your favorite GF flour + 2¼ tsp xanthan gum (omit if your flour already contains this)

4 tsp baking powder

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

¼ cup butter

1¼ cup raisins &/or currents, optional

2 cups cold buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

Whisk together all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.

Cut in butter with pastry cutter until completely combined. (Blended butter pieces should be no larger than pea size).

Stir in raisins/currents, if using.

Mix in buttermilk & beaten eggs.

I find if you make a little well in the middle of the dry mixture, then add the liquids, it all mixes together a little easier.

Pour into 2 bread pans (about 7½ x 3½ inch) lightly sprayed with GF baking spray.  (See notes) Or place a sheet of parchment paper in 2 small round cake pans & lightly spray with GF baking spray & form the bread into a round in the pan. Or lightly spray small cast iron skillet with GF baking spray, then place all of dough in skillet. (I use the cast iron skillet when I’m going to use it as a plain bread (without any raisins/currents.)  Then use a sharp knife & cut an X in the top of the dough, if making round loaf.

Loosely cover with kitchen towel & let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Bake at 350° for about 1 hour. Top should be golden brown & toothpick inserted in center should come out clean.

Remove from pans & cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Notes:

Please check out my blog post “Irish Soda Bread – A brief history” for a little background on this storied bread.

I know 4 tsp baking powder seems like a lot! The original recipe calls for 3 tsp, but I found with the GF flour, the texture can be a little dense. The extra tsp just helps lighten it up a bit, so the texture is closer to the original.

Buttermilk is the key to Irish Soda Bread. If you don’t have real buttermilk, you can substitute powdered buttermilk – just follow the directions for amounts on the container. You can mix it up before adding it, or add the powder to your dry ingredients & add the correct amount of cold water when it’s time to add the buttermilk.

Using raisins &/or currents makes the bread a little more dessert or snack like (think banana or zucchini bread). But if you don’t add them, it can actually be used as a sandwich bread. Which is nice if you want fresh GF bread, but don’t have the time or desire to make a yeast bread. Just make these minor adjustments: decrease sugar to 1/4 cup & decrease buttermilk to 1½ cups.

It is my understanding that the dough needs to be “rested” so that the baking soda can make carbon dioxide, which makes the bread lighter. This is done because there is no yeast in this bread. But the key to the texture is the reaction between the baking soda & the buttermilk.

For preparing pans, see my blog post “A guide to preparing pans for baking quick (dessert) breads”.

I have tried using America’s Test Kitchen GF flour blend & Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour blend – they both have good flavor, but the one made with the Bob’s blend was moister & won the overall family taste test hands down!

Made with ATK flour

Made with Bob’s flour