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There’s something about brown soda bread in Ireland. Ask anyone who’s visited the Emerald Isle and they’ll tell you: The bread is thus different from what we are used to at home. It’s soft yet dense, and also somewhat crumbly – a hearty and delicious accompaniment to any meal. Add a dollop of butter and jam to a slice and you have a snack fit for a king. Enjoy it with soup or broth, or create an egg or smoked salmon sandwich. You really can’t go wrong! Bread grows everything it touches and is so prevalent throughout the country that its absence is quite noticeable when you return to the United States.
The good news? You should not go without! Authentic Irish Brown Soda Bread is surprisingly easy to make. In Ireland Dromoland Castle — a five-star luxury hotel with a stellar golf course in Co. Clare — brown bread is served with almost every meal and executive chef David McCann shared his thoughts on what makes Irish crisp bread so special.
“Fizzybread is more than just food – it’s linked to Irish identity and hospitality,” said McCann. “Many Irish families still bake it regularly, and it’s served with soups and stews, or just butter and jam. Irish flour is traditionally made from soft wheat, which doesn’t do well with yeast, but is perfect for sourdough bread.”
There is also a historical component to the bread.
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Jessica Marksbury
“Soda bread became popular in Ireland in the early 1800s when baking soda was first introduced as an inexpensive and reliable drying agent,” McCann said. “Poorer rural Irish families often lacked ovens and expensive ingredients such as yeast or refined flour. Soda bread could be made with basic ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk – and baked in a pan or a bastible (a type of cast iron pot over a fire) Dutch oven.”
While sourdough bread enjoyed a moment in the spotlight here in the United States during the pandemic, Irish soda bread is another easy staple to make at home. Some best practice tips from McCann include adding a little sunflower oil for moisture and being careful not to overwork the dough.
“In the Dromoland recipe we say, ‘No need to cook!'” McCann said. “We work the dough very little, we have enough liquid and we bake it in a lined pan. You just follow the recipe and make sure the mixture is moist. You also have to heat the oven, that’s very important.”
There’s just one more thing to remember: the bottom line.
“My mother once told me that the traditional top cut is not just for looks,” McCann said. “It helps the bread bake evenly and folklore says it’s ‘letting the fairies out’.”
Sounds about as good as the reason for adding cuts! Ready to bake yourself a loaf of bread? McCann shared the Dromoland recipe below. And if you’re looking for the perfect accompaniment, you can check out his Delicious seafood soup recipe here.
Dromoland Castle Brown Bread
Makes 2 pounds of bread
The ingredients
1.5 cups of wholemeal flour
1/3 cup plain flour
1 tablespoon of bran
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/6 cup sunflower oil
1 egg
1.5 cups of buttermilk
Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Make a well in the center of the dry mixture, add the oil, buttermilk and egg, mix it all together.
Pour into a greased pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 Celsius (350 F) for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Transfer to a rack and let cool.
