Sourdough Irish Soda Bread

5 from 1 vote

This is a sourdough quick bread made with basic ingredients like sourdough starter, buttermilk, flour, sea salt, and baking soda. Use sourdough discard or active starter for this deliciously simple bread.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Bread, Sourdough

Cuisine: American, Irish

Servings:

Calories: 241kcal

Author: Joy Kincaid

Equipment

Ingredients

520 grams all-purpose flour about 4 1/4 cups
5 grams baking soda 1 teaspoon
5 grams sea salt 1 teaspoon
1 large egg
125 grams sourdough starter discard 1/2 cup
30 grams granulated sugar 2 tablespoons
355 grams buttermilk about 1 1/2 cups

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a kitchen scale, weigh your flour, baking soda, and salt. Place in a medium bowl and whisk together to combine all of the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl put your egg, and weighed sourdough starter, sugar, and buttermilk. Mix together.
Pour all of your dry ingredients on top of your wet ingredients and mix them together until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. It takes some muscle to get all the flour incorporated. This is normal. You can also use your hands at the end to mix the dough but be prepared for them to get messy because this is a sticky dough.
Lightly flour your counter and dump the dough out of the bowl and onto the counter.
Flour your hands and gently form the dough into a disc shape.
Set your dough on top of your parchment lined baking sheet.
Using a sharp knife or bread lame, cut a deep cross or "x" on top of the bread so that while baking the steam can escape.
Place the bread in your preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, check your bread and make sure that it is not getting too brown on the top. If it is, you can loosely place aluminum foil over the top of the bread to keep it from burning. Bake for another 10 minutes or until the bread's internal temperature is greater than 195 degrees and if you knock on the bottom of the bread it sounds hollow.
Remove from the oven and transfer bread to a cooling rack.
Let the bread cool for about 15 minutes and then enjoy! It is best eaten warm.

Notes

How to Store:

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can freeze sliced bread in a freezer-safe plastic zipper bag or container for up to 3 months.

Recipe Tips:

- If you don't have buttermilk, you can thin sour cream or yogurt to the consistency of buttermilk, or you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes until the milk curdles.

- To make a sweeter sourdough soda bread recipe, add dried fruit like raisins or currants to the dough. You can also add orange zest, caraway seeds, chocolate chips, or chopped pecans for more depth of flavor.

- You can use either sourdough discard or active starter for this recipe. The baking soda is what makes the bread rise, so you won't need your starter to be in its bubbly or active state.

Nutrition