Name: Irish Wheaten Soda Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: 225 g Plain White Flour; 225 g Course/Stone ground Wholemeal Flour; 50 g Wheat Bran (optional); 50 g Wheat Germ (optional); 2 tbsp Sugar; 1.5 tsp Salt; 1.5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda; 100 ml Sunflower Oil; 500 ml Buttermilk; 1-2 tbsp oats (optional)

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Irish Wheaten Soda Bread sliced on a wooden cutting board with a bowl of butter and strawberry jam

Irish wheaten soda bread is good for breakfast, lunches, and snacks. Quick & easy to make and easily multiplied for batch baking.

I have made this wheaten soda bread recipe for years. It’s a similar recipe to that I used in the restaurant all those years ago. I love that it can be used for most meals. My kids will eat it for breakfast or their school lunches with a dollop of homemade strawberry jam. I love it with homemade soup and it’s great to add to a light dinner to bulk it up. You can’t really get much simpler of a recipe.

Unlike yeasted breads, you can just throw in the ingredients, mix and bake. There’s no kneading – which let’s face it can be hard work if you don’t have a mixer. And you don’t have to wait around for the dough to rise. You can have this in the oven in 10/15 mins and have it baked in less than an hour. It can be eaten straight from the oven but I do recommend letting it cool for at least an hour and longer is better as it will slice easier.

The Ingredients

Irish Wheaten Soda Bread - Bowl containing dry ingredients on a worktop, surrounded by jars and flour bags and utensils

Flours

I use two flours in this recipe. Regular white plain flour (all purpose flour) and wholemeal flour. As I like to use organic flour, I am currently using a fine ground wholemeal flour, but in the past I would have used a coarse ground or stone ground wholemeal flour. Unfortunately, the organic supplier that I use only supplies a fine ground version, but it works well and honestly I hardly notice the difference.

Sugar & Salt

Both are optional but I feel they add to the depth of flavour of the finished product. You can of course use substitutes, but a granular form is best as using any liquid sugar alternative will mess with the amount of buttermilk that needs to be added. The amount of salt is minimal in relation to the overall amount of portions of bread. I use sea salt which has the extra benefit of containing some good nutrients and none of the horrible additives of table salt.

Bran & Wheatgerm

I add these for extra nutrition but they can be omitted. You may have to increase the flour slightly to compensate. For flour to be shelf stable, the wheatgerm is removed so adding it back in brings the nutrition levels back up.

Buttermilk

Whilst I mostly use buttermilk for its lovely acidity, it sets off the lovely sweetness of the wholemeal flour but I have replaced it with milk on occasion. If you only have milk, you can add in some plain yoghurt, or even vinegar to increase the acidity. When I was recording the video to go along with this post, I had milk that was on it’s “Use By” date, and was starting to curdle in the tea. It was perfect to use for the bread, but that is something you would need to be comfortable with doing. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it if there are any vulnerable people in the house i.e. anyone sick or elderly or with a compromised immune system or generally anyone of a sensitive disposition.

Oil

I usually use sunflower oil, but personally I would be more comfortable using olive oil. I just haven’t tried it yet because I’m afraid it’ll be too strong tasting. There is a lot of information out there now about oils and the method of extraction being responsible for inflammation because they contain high levels of trans fats. Olive oil, avocado oil and coconut oil are considered safe. However, they are all either too strong tasting for this recipe or extremely hard to get a hold of as in the case of Avocado oil. Butter is of course a good alternative. But I really feel the bread stays fresh and moist for longer using oil instead of butter.

Bicarbonate of Soda (Bread Soda)

Bicarb starts to work as soon as it gets wet. So it is vital to get the bread into the oven really fast after you have added in the liquid.

The Method

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl first and give them a good mix to disperse the ingredients. The bicarb needs to be put through a sieve to break up any clumps. I then make a well in the centre and add in the oil and most of the buttermilk. Definitely don’t add all the buttermilk as different flours and room temperatures mean you will use a different amount of liquid every time. I am looking for a wet, soft dropping consistency when I have added the liquid. Make sure and give the bottom of the bowl a good scrape because that’s where the dry flour all hangs out.

I always grease and flour the tin. No matter how non stick the tin is you can never be careful enough. As soon as you trust the tin, there’ll be trouble! The whole secret to baking this bread is to put it into a really hot oven. This gets the bread rising straight away. I then turn down the temperature, so that it has time to cook all the way through before it’s too brown. When the 50 minutes have passed I turn the bread out of the tin and give it a good tap on the bottom. I’m looking to hear a hollow sound when I knock on it. And it’s hard to describe what that’s like. But to compare, it’s probably a good idea to knock on it after the first 35 minutes. Then you’ll be able to tell the difference.

I leave it to cool on a rack until it’s completely cool. You can cut into it when it’s fairly cool, but it’ll slice much better when it’s fully cooled. This recipe freezes really well. I usually make 6 of these in one go and freeze 5 for later. I just wrap them up really well in cling film, or you could put them in freezer zip lock bags.