Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread

This is the best soda bread I've ever had. Even better than our beloved local Irish pub. I basted it about 5 times during baking, and each time I sprinkled a little sugar on top too! It was moist and just sweet enough. It even tasted better the next day straight out of the refrigerator! ***Update*** I made this again for St. Pat's and decided to add a touch more salt, 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 and I added a touch more buttermilk to get it a little more moist. I baked it at 340 degrees for 50 minutes basting it 3 times and each time I sprinkled sugar all over the top again. It was perfect and everyone raved about it! The crust was crunchy and sugary and the inside was moist and sweet! *Update #2* Use Kerrygold Irish butter in place of the margarine if you can find it, it's fantastic!!! Really puts it over the top.

Great recipe. Takes little time to make and was delicious. I added raisins to a loaf and it went fast. Wish I had added raisins to both loaves that I made. Going to make it again for Easter. My daughter can't wait. Does dry out quickly after slicing but makes great toast the next morning.

I made this bread today for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. Wow! It is awesome! It's crunchy on the outside and moist and sweet on the inside. It tastes fabulous. Our guests loved it too. I highly recommend it and plan on making it often. Brushing the butter and buttermilk mixture a few times while baking really added a great crust. Bon Appetite!

The recipe name says it all - really easy. And really good. 1/2 of the loaf is already gone this evening, and the 2nd loaf is in the oven. Wanted an easy Irish Soda Bread to take into work for St.Patrick's Day, and this was it! It's not dry like some recipes are. I cut the softened margarine in with 2 knives and then a pastry cutter, as this was not explained in directions. I added 1/2 cup of raisins in while kneading the dough. Amazingly good.

Even though the texture is a little different than true Irish Soda bread the taste is very close. My Irish grandmother won't give up her recipe to her famous soda bread but this will do in the mean time. Very easy to put together.

This isn't a perfect Irish Soda Bread, as it contains egg, but I PROMISE you that your family will love it. I take care to frequently "baste" it with the milk/butter wash, and I prefer to bake it on a pizza stone. If you don't own one, GET ONE. You can get a good one for under twenty dollars, and you will be amazed at how wonderful some of your favorite baked goods turn out - they will seem so much more "professional". Also, I like to coat the very bottom of the loaf in a bit of cornmeal - helps to keep the loaf from sticking and burning.

This recipe is so easy & good with honey butter. The secret to cooking it is to cook it as it says but when you take it out of the oven you wrap it in a dishcloth immediately & the centre will finish cooking. I also use a cast-iron pan to cook it in. My mother-in-law learned this from her Irish mother-in-law & passed it on to me.

I recently made this bread for family dinner and everyone loved it. It was simple and quick to put together and tasted great. This will be a bread I make often.

This is a wonderful bread. Very flavourful and easy to make. This is a bread I will make often.

This is not a good bread for those trying to limit their carbohydrates because it’s so good you’ll be tempted to make a little piggy of yourself. I made a half recipe which turned out a beautiful little golden loaf. (For 1/2 egg I simply beat an egg lightly, then measured out 2 T.) I suppose it’s not traditional, but I added dill weed – because I love it. And was that ever good! I’ll bet other herbs would be great additions as well. I did brush the loaf with the buttermilk-butter mixture once, just before it went into the oven, but that’s a step that could easily be skipped in my view. I noticed the tips where I scored the bread were getting brown before the rest of the loaf, so I simply covered them with tiny pieces of aluminum foil – worked great! My little loaf was done in about 40 minutes.

This Soda bread was good but found it kinda on the dry side...but was very good toasted with my kids favorite jelly they loved it.

Very Good...Very Authentic. I like raisins in my Soda Bread so I added about 1 1/2 cups of golden raisins. I let the raisins soak in the buttermilk for about 15 minutes then added the buttermilk/raisins to the recipe when called for. Also, I baked for 1 hour at 350 degrees to prevent over-browning of the bread.

My husband is from Ireland, so I was looking for a great Irish soda bread recipe for a traditional Irish dinner. I chose this one for my 1st try because they DON'T traditionally add rasins/currants or caraway seeds. He LOVED it and even said it was better than his grandmother's! I did use whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, Smart Balance butter instead of margarine, and kneaded it in the big bowl I mixed it in. I think the key is brushing the loaf in the oven with the buttermilk/butter mixture several times. For my oven, I baked it at 325 degrees for 65 minutes (mine cooks about 25 degrees hot). It is supposed to have a pretty hard crust and be fairly dry - my husband always ate his with strawberry preserves. Cover with aluminum foil if it starts to get too brown. To serve, cut loaf into 4 quarters (or in half) and then cut each quarter (or half) into slices. I may try using brown sugar next time to make it even MORE authentic!

Very easy and that's what I wanted for my first attempt at Irish Soda Bread. I added a couple more tablespoons of sugar, 1 c. of raisins and 2 Tbsp. of caraway seeds. I followed others advice and baked it at 350 for an hour. It's very dense and biscuit like. Overall, pretty good.

This is a very good and authentic tasting bread recipe. Even though it tastes a little biscuit-like to me, my Irish mother completely approved and reminded her of the old country. I like to make buttermilk pancakes and then make this bread with the leftover buttermilk. UPDATE. I made it again, but I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat for AP. Still came out great. I also split the dough into two balls so that it will cook more evenly and I can freeze or give away a whole loaf to someone else.

Great recipe! The only changes that I made were to use milk and lemon juice, in place of the buttermilk (1 T. to milk, to make a cup), added raisins and caraway seeds, kneaded for two minutes with my Kitchen Aid and divided the dough into fourths. I wanted to have something to put on my mother's dinner table (she is in assisted living) for her and her three dinner partners, for St. Patrick's Day.I just took the four sections of dough, patted them into round loaves, followed the baking instructions, brushing with the egg and milk mixture again, halfway thru,and baking for 30 minutes. They came out perfectly. I took bread bags (cellophane), added some shamrock stickers and will place them on each of their butter plates tomorrow (as this is March 16th). I am sure they will really enjoy having their very own loaf of Irish Soda Bread.

When I used to think of soda bread, I think bland, dense, not very good. However, to be festive I decided to try making it myself. I cook a lot, and this is one of my favorite recipes I've found. Wow! So moist, and slightly sweet. I did add some raisins, and I basted the bread liberally every 15 minutes with the buttermilk mixture (I used it all). I will be making another loaf on St. Patricks Day. Thank you, thank you, for sharing. I will not try another soda bread recipe because I can't believe any could be better.

My family loves this recipe! I've made it every other week for almost a year... by constant request. It does brown on the outside before cooking on the inside so be careful to coat with mixture or you can lower the heat and cook a little longer as suggested by one reviewer. I've made some variations to suit our tastes: I always use 1/2 cup sugar instead of 4Tbsp. That said our favorite variations are to make no changes but to add 1Tbsp Almond extract and 1/2 cup Crasins! We also do a Cinnimon and Rasins w/Vanilla extract, and I've done a very good rasins and cardamom. Love this MP Welty! Thank You!

YUM! Came out great, though I did make a few adjustments to suit my tastes: 1) Buttermilk isn't necessary. I used 1% milk mixed with vinegar. 2) I used regular unsalted butter instead of margarine. 3) I did not brush loaf with the buttermilk mixture. Instead I brushed egg wash on it to give it a thick, shiny, thick crust. The inside turned out incredibly moist. For the second batch I added more sugar with some cinnamon and sprinkled the top with more sugar. Not traditional Irish Soda Bread but it satisfied my sweet tooth!

This may be the best Irish Soda Bread I've ever made.

Love this recipe. I added an extra tablespoon of sugar. Made my own buttermilk to save money { 1 cup of milk plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice you can use vinegar}. Added a little extra butter. This was the best Soda Bread I've eaten in a long time

Well, the concensus on this bread was that it was very, very good. It does taste like biscuit, but that's what to expect from a bread without no-yeast. There are two things missing from this recipe that we feel are essential: 1/2 cup of raisins (which I added) and 1.5 teaspoons of caraway seeds (which everyone reminded me that I didn't, but should have). I flattened the ball as one reviewer suggested and cut a big X on top and it came out looking beautiful ... heavy, but beautiful. It is BEST lightly toasted with jelly or preserves, but great as is. Thanks MP.

This is a delicious moist bread that both makes a beautiful presentation and is so good. I added golden raisins to the dough and patted it out to an 8 1/2" round, baking it on floured parchment paper for a total of 40",lowering the oven temp the last 5-10 minutes. I basted it several times during the baking, and my only suggestion would be to keep the pan of butter/buttermilk on a warm part of the stove to keep it from congealing. Definitely a keeper that I'll be making again for Easter. Addendum: I should add that after reading some reviews that said the middle of the bread was not quite done, I cut my cross very deep into the bread. This allowed it to bake in 40", and altho it raised beautifully, it came out without the point in the middle. The bread came out scored equally into 4 parts which could have easily been cut or even pulled apart into 4 very large scones (or individual breads). I sliced each section individually with no problem.

I was looking for recipes to use up the buttermilk I'd bought for another recipe, and stumbled on this. It turned out so yummy, and was so easy! I am learning to cook for myself and was totally proud of the results. Easy and delicious!

Mmmmmm!!! This was very good, and so easy to make. The only changes I made was I kneaded the dough right in the bowl, and about half way through the cooking time, I lowered the temperature to 350 as another reviewer suggested and cooked it a bit longer than the recipe said. It looked perfect on the outside and was cooked in the middle. I've never had soda bread before, but it was like an enormous buttermilk biscuit! I think next time I might make a bunch of little ones becuse they'll cook faster. Thanks for the recipe!

This recipe lives up to all the hype! Really crusty on the outside and moist on the inside. I tried the lower temp (I cooked it at 350) and it came out perfect. A small note for non-bakers: this dough is really crumbly looking until you knead it. It freaked me out at first and I even added 1/4 cup buttermilk, but in the end it worked fine. Great recipe!

oops.. forgot to use buttermilk... the vanilla soymilk that i used instead seemed to make the bread rise anyways

Easy, you bet ya! Traditional Irish Soda bread- not even close (I lived there). But, I wanted something to serve with dinner. As I was making this in the KA, I'm thinking, gosh this is familiar, and then it hits me- this is almost, so very close to my scone recipe! Ha, I have a giant scone in the oven as I type!!!! No wonder everyone is serving it with whipped butter and such. I'm sure the family will love it-

Excellent recipe. Not only was it easy to make, but it's delicious as well. I added about a cup of raisins and sprinkled some sugar on top of the loaf for a little extra crunch and sweetness after brushing it with the butter/buttermilk mixture and my family absolutely loved it! Will definitely make again! :D

It's great, not hard to make and it's a very Irish tradition meal. You'll like it.

This was a very tasty bread! I was surprised at how easy the steps were and the final outcome. To all I served this to, the bread was not dry but moist. They all loved it!

At last, an excellent soda bread in print. This is my mother's recipe which I have made for years. It is the only bread I really remember growing up in Ulster. For our tastes it is absolutely the best and it also keeps more than a day. Can't believe some reviewers thought this was time consuming to make - remember it does not require muck kneading - only enough to make it smooth. Too much handling will make it heavy and tough.

LOVED IT! Was easy and amazing! My husband, who's picky (and right off the boat from Dublin), loved it! The first loaf I added raisins to, and the second loaf I made without. It was GREAT both ways. The raisin loaf needed to bake longer than the second. By about 15 min. Raisins=1 hour and Plain=45 min. Brushing it with the buttermilk and butter was excellent. I would caution to only do so about 3 times tho. However, you will need more than a couple tablespoons. ENJOY! We sure did!

Finally succeeded in making bread! The first time I followed this, the bread was great except for an unfortunate raw spot in the top that just wouldn't cook away. After reading a few reviews, this was what I did. Followed the recipe, except I made buttermilk from milk and lemon juice. Combined all ingredients, kneaded in a large handful of raisins, and set on a floured pizza stone. Cooked at 350 degrees for an hour, took it out half an hour in and braised with milk and butter and returned it to the oven for the remaining half hour. After it hour was up, I took it out and immediately wrapped it in foil and a dish towel in room temperature, until it cooled. It cooked completely through and is moist, fluffy, and delicious. Win!

I baked this today to test it for St. Patrick's day. As many of the other reviewers have suggested, I lowered the temperature to 350, used butter instead of margarine, and basted the loaf with the butter/buttermilk mixture every 15 minutes. A TOTAL success, slightly sweet, crusty and moist inside. Great with butter!

My boss asked me to fix Soda Bread for the Highland Games. I picked this recipe and it turned out perfect. Everyone loved it. Very Easy.

While this is a very tasty recipe. I do have a couple corrections. The following quote is from the society for preservation of IRISH soda bread. "If your "soda bread" has raisins in it, it's not "soda bread," it's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"! If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called "cake", not "bread." Classic, true Irish Soda Bread consists of ONLY, 1-flour, 2- baking soda, 3- salt, 4-buttermilk 5-butter (small bit depending on your climate)and 6- Love. Now that is said, I will repeat, this IS a very, very tasty recipe, which I had to try for my own curiosity.

This bread was dry and tasteless. Will remove from my recipe box.

Delicious! Very moist, airy and tasty. I was skeptical since most breads require yeast. I did make a few small changes. I omitted the buttermilk and used 1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt and 1/2 cup 2% milk. (Many reviews stated the bread was dry, and I think mine wasn't because of the yogurt.) I also let it sit for about 15 mins before baking to let the ingredients rest (think that's why mine was airy and not too dense). I baked it at 350 for 55 mins. Came out perfect! Next time I might even used less sugar. (I was nicely sweet but would be good less sweet too.)

Best soda bread I've tried! Has a lovely, slightly sweet buttery flavor and is not dry like many recipes. I basted three times with the butter/buttermilk mixture. I cut the recipe in half, which took 40 minutes to bake. For buttermilk, I used vinegar and milk :) Thanks for a great recipe! Update 12/2014: Made this again and used yogurt instead of buttermilk...had no issues but using it for the topping looked...not quite as nice :)

Pretty amazing. I added about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar though. They taste wonderful and they are so moist! I bake about 3 dozen muffins every week and these will become a regular pick. Thanks!

Bread had a biscuit texture. Rich and good--my company enjoyed it. I basted the bread 3-4 times through baking, but that may have lowered the temperature of the bread in baking too much because I ended up with a small doughy part in the middle of the bread even though the outside was well done.

Yummy! This is delicious. Not like typical soda bread, but I think that's what I liked so much about it! Very easy to make. I used butter instead of margarine. It's very good toasted too. As suggested by another reviewer, I used the dough hook on my KitchenAid and it was very quick to mix. I will definitely make again.

Truly easy to prepare and tastes wonderful!. I made this for my family quite a few times and have served it with Corned beef and each dish compliments each other. I too used a Kitchen Aid Stand mixer and the preparation was incredibly easy. I would definitely recommender this soda bread recipe to anyone. So simple to make and the taste is great!

I made this to take with me to the Renaissance Faire where I work on weekends. It traveled VERY well, and everyone loved it!

Very interesting!! Its a cross between a biscut and cornbread but very nicely dense ....dont let the look of the bread fool you, it wasnt very pretty but it cut nicely flakey on outside, moist on inside..i added 1 cup raisins and 2 tablespoons caraway seeds for flavor.....

Never made or even tried soda bread before, so I had no idea what to expect. The end result was like a scone on steroids. More of a biscuit-like texture than bread. Just a hint of sweetness. Not sure if that's the way it's suppose to be, but we kind of liked what we got. I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer with the paddle for the initial mixing, and the dough hook instead of kneading. Easiest bread I've ever made.

This was a great recipe. The bread was very moist and it was so easy to make. It took no time at all. It has a nice sweetness to it. You wont be disapointed.

This is the first I've ever tried, unfortunately I'm not sure what it should taste like. I found it to taste like a big biscit- a little flat on flavor.

Flaky with wonderful flavor. If we didnt eat it so fast, I would have taken a pic of it! Very easy too. I didnt have buttermilk, but used cream and 1 Tb. vinegar as a substitute. Worked wonderfully!

Oh my...this bread is wonderfully tasty and so very simple to make. It's sort of like a huge pull-a-part baking powder biscuit. I noted comments regarding the middle being doughy which I didn't want to happen, so I cut the "x" on the top down deeply, about halfway into the middle, and had to increase the baking time to 55 minutes.

Truly a great tasting bread-I used butter instead of margarine and added raisins...easy to prepare. The kneading was done in the mixing bowl and stirring everything together. Hint - after bread cools (if any is left) just wrap and place in frig to curtail some drying out. Great bread that I will make again and again...Thank you.

Super easy bread to make. I wasn't sure about it while doing the kneading (it seemed too dry and too moist at the same time), but I went ahead with it and it turned out really good. The buttermilk/butter mixture on the crust is amazing and gives the crust great crunch and flavor. I brushed it on twice (once before baking and once in the middle of baking), and I'll make sure to do that part again when I make this recipe again. Like a previous reviewer said, this makes good toast the next morning! I served this with a Guinness beef stew recipe (from this site) that was served over mashed potatoes, and the whole meal was a big hit.

The best thing about this bread is the crust. Others mentioned sprinkling brown sugar over the top when they baste it, and that does make it taste better, but it makes it more of a dessert bread than a dinner bread. I like to put a few dashes of salt in the baste mixture instead....it goes with the sweet-ish taste of the bread really well and tastes like a nice dinner bread. This recipe made two large loaves for me, so next time I will half it. I made one loaf and refrigerated the rest for 2 days, and the dough changed. It was not very good. I would recommend making whatever amount you need at once and not saving any.

This is a great recipe. If you prefer a moister bread, substitute one cup of plain yogurt for one of the cups of buttermilk. I agree that the temp should be turned down to about 360 and back for about 65-70 minutes.

This was great! The texture and flavor were lovely. I kind of wish I'd remembered the comments about the baking time and temperature, though. Definitely too high and too long for my oven; the crust was starting to blacken by the time the inside passed the toothpick test. Next time I'll try it at 350, for 45 minutes.

Wonderful recipe; very close to my grandmother's version which I honored by adding a cup of raisins, as she always did...

Had to find a recipe for Irish Soda Bread. Read multiple reviews and decided to go with this one. Followed it JUST AS WRITTEN. When cooking, I "basted" it every 15 minutes which also enabled me to keep track of right amount of time when cooking it. Took just about 40 min in my oven. LOVE not having to knead the bread or letting it take time to rise. Made it for hubby's potluck on St. Patrick's Day and got rave reviews. People wanted the recipe :) As the bread let the house with him that day, it looked and smell sooo good that I had another loaf going in no time at all for the family! It is delicious. On second loaf actually let the dough "set" 30 minutes before putting into the oven to see if it would enable the baking powder/soda to go to work sooner and get more rise - there was absolutely no difference from the loaf that didn't have 30 minutes of sitting time, so SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME and just plop it into the oven. Tastes great fresh and toasted also

Very nice. Husband likes it as well. Tastes exactly like tea biscuits to us. I baked it at 360 for 45 minutes, and basted with the butter and buttermilk mix every 15 minutes. I also used butter instead of margarine.

This recipe was absolutely awesome. Both sides of the family loved it as well as the neighbors. It was quick, easy and delicious.

I have been making this recipe for 2 years, it is easy and the best tasting soda bread out there.

This is really good and easy! The sugar makes it sweet, i might leave sugar out next time if it's for St. Patty's Day dinner. I made a substitute for buttermilk by adding 1 T white vinegar to 1 c milk. I also used the dough hook on my Kitchenaid mixer to do all the work.

My husband is Irish and has only been in the US a year. He said the bread was really good, but not anything like "real" Irish soda bread.

This was great, very different from the Irrestible Irish soda bread recipe (also on this site) which is more cakelike and moist. This soda bread is more like a biscuit and is excellent slathered with butter! Guess it will depend on what I am in the mood for! I did put plenty of moist raisins in it, even my raisin hating daughter enjoyed this!

I would like to give this 5 stars, but it was not a total hit with everyone so I took that into account. (Three out of five thought it was awesome.) I absolutely love this dense, moist, not too sweet bread! I added 1/4 cup raisins and served it with "Beef and Irish Stout Stew" (recipe on this site). It went perfectly with it, and I enjoyed some with breakfast the next morning. If you are looking for a light airy bread, this is not the recipe for you.

It's a true Irish Soda Bread recipe. Be prepared to leave yours in the oven longer (mine had to go ten minutes over). I have tasted better, though and I will search for a different recipe next time.

While this recipe has potential, I would not use it again as written. I followed the recipe exactly, and the result looked like a mutated biscuit that was still half-baked on the inside.

I cut this recipe in half, it made a beautiful loaf of bread. It had a dense texture and tasted great. Very easy to make too.

This bread was delicious! I doubled the recipe to make two loaves, and they came out perfectly. The only changes I made was to use 3 c whole wheat flour, a little less sugar, and butter instead of margarine. I brushed the loaves with the butter/buttermilk mixture a few times while it was baking, and it made the crust perfect. I had to add about 5 min of baking time, but other than that the recipe was perfect.

I added 1/2 c raisins and didn't brush top. The bread was moist and very good.

We love this recipe in my house and I have made it about five times already. It is incredibly easy. The texture is similar to a scone and is delicious toasted with marmalade. The only change I made is to use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white flour and to add golden raisins that have been soaked in buttermilk. I add them just before kneading, otherwise it is hard to work them into the dough without over-kneading. It is my son's favorite breakfast!

This is a good recipe, having had awful results in the past with soda bread (soda brick?). The only thing I'd do different next time is add a little bit more buttermilk to the dough. It was somewhat dry and I think I had to knead it way too much to get it to hold together. Otherwise, the taste and texture were very good.

This bread was a hit with my corned beef and cabbage dinner. The guests have left and I gave away most of the left overs. I kept some of the bread for myself and my husband (unless I eat it all). This recipe produces a wonderful crunchy crust. I followed the directions as written. The only slight modification I made was I cut down the wash solution that you brush on the bread before baking to 2T melted butter and 2T butter milk. Just felt that (2T + 2T) a 1/4 cup of the buttery milk solution would be plenty. Had I used the 1/4 cup of each, I'd have tried to brush on a 1/2 cup of liquid. It would have just run off. Then bread is delicious and I will make this again. You won't be disappointed. Thank you MP Welty!

By far the best recipe for simple soda bread that I have used. It was great!

Followed the recipe exactly except I used butter instead of margarine (I don't buy it) and since margarine's water content is a little bit higher, I compensated by adding just a few drops more of buttermilk. The dough was a little crumbly, then again, maybe only compared to yeast bread. I shaped it into a round and flattened it per other reviewers so that the middle would set, but even baking it longer didn't do an good--the middle was doughy. The crust had a good flavor so I may attempt it next year, but I'll definitely flatten it much, much more--maybe about 2 inches high?

Really good, especially right out of the oven with some butter. I had to substitute fat free yogurt for the buttermilk because that's what I had and I wonder if that wasn't what contributed to a slightly thicker bottom. I followed other reviewer's suggestions and turned the heat down and cooked for almost one hour. It turned out perfectly done.

This is a good recipe with just a few changes. I increased the sugar to 1/4 cup, used butter instead of margarine, beat 1 jumbo egg till frothy and baked it in a greased 9" cast iron skillet. I basted with the butter/buttermilk mixture only twice (used the remainer for a second loaf)and sprinkled with white cyrstal sugar after each basting. Now the recipe is perfect.

Used the Kitchenaid mixer. Added one cup of raisens to the recipe. Used butter not margarine. Next time I will separate the dough to make two loaves. That should help the cooking time. Husband approved.

I made this for our team's Saint Patrick's Day party and everyone said it was delightful! It's crumbly and perfect with cornbeef and cabbage. I can't believe how easy it was to make. I just watched the video a few times and went for it. Definitely something I will make again. Thanks!

I have tried a lot of Irish Soda Bread recipes and found this to be the best yet. I added currants to the recipe and it was delicious.

I halved this recipe (used 1 small egg) to make a small loaf of bread for our St. Patrick's day dinner. I brushed the loaf with the butter/buttlermilk mixture every 15 minutes during the baking time. It baked up beautifully and had a nice flavor. Served this with 'Stout Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Veggies' and 'Irish Tea Cake', both from AR.

absolutely love this!

Really good bread... but definitely needs butter or jam! Don't forget it when bringing it to a function as I did. I added cranberries to it also. Pretty good.

This was really good bread, but it was a bit moister and sweeter than the soda bread I've eaten before. It was really good, just not what I was expecting.

This recipe is a little bland as written. The density and texture are great, but I added cinnamon and raisins to it to make it more flavorful since I was serving it for breakfast. If you are pairing it with soup, then it's perfect as is.

Great recipe but depends on what you are looking for. I was trying to find a soda bread recipe to Publix supermarket's (in the south) and this one is pretty close. In reality this recipe yields a gaint scone, and a good one at that. If you are looking for more of a chewy, crusty bread that can be dipped in stews like a dinner bread this probably isn't what you are looking for. HOWEVER, if you want something a bit sweeter, crumbly and tender scone-like bread this is a great recipe.

I made this bread today and it truly was amazing! I did it in my Kitchen Aid mixer, using the dough hook. I flattened it a little more and, after reading a couple other reviews, decided to lower the baking temp. to 350 and baked it for 50 min. I used 2 Tbsp. each butter and buttermilk to brush on the top; once before baking and again, about 20 minutes into the baking. It was the best! Moist, flavorful and didn't need any butter on it when serving! My family LOVED it!

I'm not sure if this is authentic or not, as I have never had Irish soda bread, but it does taste amazingly like the biscuits at Cooker restaurant which is definately good enough for me! Next time I will try making them in biscuit form, it would probably make about a dozen I think.

I agree that this came out tasting like a big buttermilk biscuit, but I like biscuits. I have no idea what real Irish soda bread tastes like, but this was certainly yummy. I made one round following the directions to a 'T', and one round with lots of raisins. I recommend adding raisins or something else similar in order to counteract a bit of blandness. Also, while it's good for quite a while, it's best right out of the oven. I had lots of compliments at a St. Patty's day potluck.

Delicious! I added a cup of raisins, rinsed with hot water, before the milk. Also added 1 T. lemon juice to milk instead of buttermilk. Basted w/ half the milk/butter mixture but might not even bother next time.

Although I can make tea biscuits that are perfect, this similar recipe did not turn out for me. :( The middle did not cook properly and became dense and "gluey". The outside was almost over cooked and too dark. It all crumbled when I tried to cut it. A little disappointed as I used this recipe for dinner when I had company coming. I'm glad it worked for others, but it just didn't come out like I had hoped.

I made this for St. Patrick's Day and served it with Irish stew. I made 1 1/2 times the recipe and made two loaves. I cooked it at 350 for the longer period the other reviewers suggested so that it would be done on the inside. It was fabulous, went well with and in the stew, and got good comments from all. I will save this recipe and make it again.

This is the easiest and best tasting bread we have ever eaten. We've made this for school projects and people can't get over how wonderful it tastes. Enjoy it - it won't last long!!!

With a couple of small changes this the best soda bread recipe I have tried so far. The only changes I make are butter instead of margarine and less sugar. Great job on this recipe!

The Irishmen at our celebration said it was perfectly authentic except for the green colour the hostess insisted I add to the buttermilk. I weighed out my flour - 4 cups = 500 g but there was still a lot of dry flour left in the bowl. Do not knead it all in or it will make the bread very tough. Next time I'll use a little less flour or a touch more buttermilk.

Very tasty, very easy. Great for St. Patrick's Day!

Yummy! I have another soda bread recipe from here that I usually use but it takes 70 minutes and I only had 45 so I decided to try it. Turned out great! It was a tad dry on the edges (my fault cuz I left it in the oven about 5 minutes after the timer went off). I also forgot to add the butter/milk mixture on top and so I am sure it will be even better next time. I decided to go with a savory bread and so I cut back on the sugar and added a couple of tablespoons of dried dill. Very nice. probably would be great with crushed rosemary also. Still had a slight sweet taste - I maybe would cut the sugar all together unless I wanted to add raisins or something. I also learned my lesson about the "x" on the top - don't cut too deep! Mine seems about as split as most of the pics on here, but l would like it to look a bit less split. I would say cut down maybe only a half inch??? All in all, a great recipe that I will make again.

I am just not sure about this. I followed the recipe exactly and it was the driest, crumbliest dough, very hard to pull together. It was a very heavy dense bread, too. I just was expecting something different I guess! Still, it didn't turn out to be horrible, and it wasn't that bad.

So good and so easy. I added a tbsp. of carraway seeds, deelish, crunchy and chewy. Great addition to St. Patty's day meal.