This Irish Soda Bread recipe is an incredibly easy bread recipe with no yeast and perfect for busy nights because it is ready to eat in under 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with baking parchment or a silicone baking mat.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add buttermilk and use your hand or a wooden spoon to incorporate all of the flour into the buttermilk. The dough will be sticky.
Dump the bread out onto a lightly floured surface and shape the dough into a ball. Flatten the ball out a little bit with your hand.
Transfer the dough to the prepared baking parchment. Make a deep cut about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way down the loaf using a knife or bench scraper.
Dust with a light sprinkling of flour and bake for 30-35 minutes until crust is a dark golden brown.
Notes
You can use this same basic mixture and add various ingredients to make it more savory or more sweet. Here's a couple ideas:
Add 3/4 cup white cheddar and 1/2 cup chopped raw onion to the batter before adding the buttermilk
Add 1 1/2 cups raisins, cranberries, or a mix of both to the dry ingredients. Sprinkle the top of the bread with a 1/4 cup of muscavado sugar (large dark sugar crystals).