Traditional Irish Soda Bread

This is wonderful bread, HOWEVER (and it's a big "however"), you'll get much more authentic and palatable results if you substitute pastry flour for all-purpose; Ireland grows soft wheat--a better fit for leavening with soda and acid (and it's my understanding that sour milk is more traditional than buttermilk). You can also use 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour to 1 cup white pastry flour with maybe an extra half-teaspoon of soda and a bit more salt--delicious!<br/>Stingo mentioned that the dough should be handled as little as possible, which turns out to have been sound advice. 10 seconds of very gentle kneading with floured fingers prior to shaping the loaf and cutting the cross is plenty and ensures that you'll get as much rise as possible. I followed the baking instructions to a T and got great results. I've read wrapping the bread in a tea towel when it comes out of the oven will result in a softer crust.

I've made this recipe a few times long ago, and while the results were decent enough, they weren't inspiring enough to merit a stellar review. I attribute this to my fault as a newbie baker, because I have since had the help of a more experienced baker, and the results are very, very good. The key for me was to work the bread very gently - just fold the combined wet and dry mixture until it was just ready to form a ball of dough. I turned the bowl contents out onto a floured countertop and lightly patted them into a loaf, and put it onto a parchment covered baking sheet. What a difference in the texture - I can see what the fuss is about now. I will definitely be making this again (and again). Thanks so much for sharing the truly traditional Irish soda bread.

This is as traditional as it gets! It's my favorite quick bread and made better with softened Irish butter.

Wonderful, authentic recipe. Being Irish myself and having been to Ireland twice, I can tell you this is a true Irish soda bread. Just 4 ingredients, mix the dough just until it comes together, shape and bake (or pan fry) it. The only thing I personally found a bit off was the temperature. After 15 minutes my bread was already getting brown, so I dropped it to 375 for the remainder of the 45 minutes. We had it with our corned beef and cabbage last night and it was so good! Someone also brought a store-bought, soft "Irish soda bread" with raisins and caraway seeds, but no one touched it! Really, save yourself time and money and just make this easy, delicious, genuine bread. You won't be sorry. Thanks so much Halcyone Eve!

Yummy! So easy and simple! I followed other reviewers' advice and mixed/kneaded as little as possible and that definitely kept ithe texture perfect. Mine baked for just under 40 minutes and it came out crunchy on the outside, beautifully fluffy and chewy on the inside. Made for St. Patty's day dinner, and I will make it again!