The easiest high altitude recipe for a rustic loaf of Irish soda bread. This simple quick bread comes together quickly, and has a crisp, crumbly crust with a tender, chewy texture inside that’s flecked with dried apricots.
You might also love this rustic no knead artisan caraway bread, cheese and herbs buttermilk quick bread, and honey whole wheat sandwich bread.
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What is Irish Soda Bread?
Irish soda bread is a type of quick bread that doesn’t require any yeast. Instead, it uses buttermilk and baking soda to give the bread lift as it bakes. The dough is very similar to a scone or biscuit dough with its shaggy texture.
The baked bread is rustic and a bit rough looking, with a crisp crust surrounding a tender, slightly crumbly bread that’s so delicious. It often contains dried fruit to add a little sweetness, and you’ll love the leftover slices toasted and slathered with butter and honey. This is a perfect recipe to make for St. Patrick’s Day, to serve along side a warm bowl of soup or stew.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Super Simple. So many of you have made and loved my no knead bread recipe, and today’s Irish soda bread is just as easy to make. Since there’s no yeast in the dough, you don’t need to wait for it to rest or rise. Simply mix up the dough, bake it on a baking sheet, and you’ll have warm bread to enjoy in less than two hours.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Buttermilk. The acidity in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to give the bread lift, and also adds moisture and tenderness to the bread.
- Egg. Adds strength to the dough so the bread isn’t overly crumbly.
- Flour. Usually I use bread flour for bread recipes, but all purpose flour works well for today’s recipe.
- Sugar. Adds a little sweetness.
- Baking Soda. Leavening agent.
- Salt. This gives the bread its flavor. Without salt, you’ll have a very bland loaf of bread.
- Butter. Adds richness and fat for a more tender, flavorful bread.
- Dried Apricots. These add delicious, sweet pockets of flavor throughout.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and egg.
- In a large bowl, combine 4 1/2 cups of the flour with the sugar, baking soda and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until there are no visible chunks of butter.
- Add the chopped dried apricots, then stir in the buttermilk/egg mixture, stirring everything together into a sticky, shaggy dough.
- Using the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, lightly flour the parchment paper, scrape the dough onto the paper, and then flour the dough, too, so it’s not too sticky. Shape the dough into a rough, rustic loaf. Use a sharp knife to slash an “x” on top of the dough.
- Bake the bread for about 45-55 minutes, until the crust is browned and crisp, and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the bread reads 195F.
- Cool the bread for 30-45 minutes before slicing. Enjoy warm with butter and jam or honey.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
After cooling the bread completely, store leftover bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar to a cup of whole milk.
Instead of the dried apricots, you can use other dried fruit, such as raisins, prunes, dates or figs. You can also leave the dried fruit out, but it adds a nice touch of sweetness and flavor.
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High Altitude Irish Soda Bread
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups cold buttermilk or kefir
- 1 large egg
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided (fluffed, spooned and leveled)
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 6 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into chunks or slices
- ½ – ¾ cup finely chopped dried apricots
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and egg.
- In a large bowl, combine 4 1/2 cups of the flour with the sugar, baking soda and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until there are no visible chunks of butter.
- Add the chopped dried apricots, then stir in the buttermilk/egg mixture, stirring everything together into a sticky, shaggy dough.
- Using the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, lightly flour the parchment paper, scrape the dough onto the paper, and then flour the dough, too, so it's not too sticky. Shape the dough into a rough, rustic loaf. Use a sharp knife to slash an "x" on top of the dough.
- Bake the bread for about 45-55 minutes, until the crust is browned and crisp, and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the bread reads 195F.
- Cool the bread for 30-45 minutes before slicing. Enjoy warm with butter and jam or honey.
I made this bread this weekend with my homemade kefir. Toasted and buttered it’s out of this world!
Wonderful recipe! I used golden raisins and they add just a touch of sweetness. My east coast recipe wasn’t going to work at altitude, so I’m grateful for this version. Very easy recipe to follow, loaf is rustic and delicious!
Yummy and easy! It was a big hit with our neighbors & us. Thank you Heather.
This was a great recipe. Turned out great and had a great taste. The one change I made was I added caraway seeds to the recipe to get a bit of a savory and a sweet taste. Came out great.