My husband’s family is 100% Irish so I went searching for the perfect Irish Soda Bread recipe to try this year. He doesn’t really come from a family of cooks, so this proved to be a daunting task. My Mother-in-Law makes it with a base of Bisquick… I can’t imagine baking anything with Bisquick, so that recipe didn’t really interest me. Second cousins came directly from Ireland so I figured I had it made with that part of the family. But sadly, no one had a recipe… not even one. Isn’t that just crazy? An Irish family without an authentic Irish Soda Bread family recipe. Bummer. Lesson learned here: write down your family recipes and make sure your kids get their hands on them. They’re treasures to be remembered and passed along.
Lucky me, I’ve had this recipe sitting in my files for a long time: Breakfast Irish Soda Bread with Dried Cherries & Golden Raisins.
The recipe begins in a food processor. Dry ingredients whirred together with butter and then dumped into a bowl to mix with buttermilk, eggs and the dried fruit.
The dough is then dumped onto a floured surface, kneaded a bit and then divided in two.
The two halves are then shaped into two round loaves.
The bread bakes to a deep, golden brown- a crispy crust and a tender interior.
Unlike some other breads, you can slice into this one immediately and sample the goods.
The bread itself isn’t all that sweet… the sweetness comes from the delicious addition of golden raisins and dried cherries. It’s a bread with a tender crumb, I didn’t find it dry at all, and it’s especially good when it’s warm.
Though this soda bread is really, really good fresh out of the oven, it’s also excellent sliced up and toasted with a smidge of butter and a drizzle of honey. We’re only a family of three, yet our two loaves of bread were gone in two days. I guess we liked loved it. A lot.
This recipe can be found here: Breakfast Irish Soda Bread with Dried Cherries and Golden Raisins
You might also like this recipe: Irish Soda Bread Muffins
25 Comments
This sounds like a very good reason to wake up in the morning……toasted…even a better reason!!!
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My favorite part of St. Patrick’s Day!
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These look delicious. I have been loving raisins in baked good lately. I will have to make these before March is over.
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This looks wonderful! I love breakfast breads, and I’ve been curious about making this for a while. Great post!
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I am so happy this recipe is up! I plan to make this for a St. Patty’s Day treat
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Love the big chunks of dried fruit in there. Yum!
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Yeah! So glad you posted this- I was getting ready to search for a recipe. Looks fab, Lori!
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It’s amazing how good the crumb looks even without yeast and only chemical leavener. I’m pretty sure I have a soda bread recipe from Dan Lepard here somewhere…
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…soda bread with a Bisquick base? That sounds… appalling. Yours looks fantastic though!
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Your bread looks gorgeous and delicious! I must try it! Thanks for doing all the “leg work” and sharing the recipe!
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The last time I had Irish soda bread has to be in elementary school, when we used to celebrate all of the world’s holidays. I definitely remember it being very dry, but yours looks amazing!
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I have never had a desire for shortbread but I must admit, yours is appealing. I love the cherries added.
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I have a recipe for Brown Bread from an Irish pub that I like, but haven’t made Irish Soda Bread yet. You make it sound and look so good, this may be too hard to resist!
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Good soda bread recipe (and photos). Your dough is not as loose as mine so it held its form nicely.
What I liked about is it bakes and you can serve it hot, immediately.
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Looks so delicious!!
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Looks like a great recipe! I haven’t made any soda bread in a while. I think it’s time to fix that!
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Love this! I am so excited to find a fab soda bread recipe. Will be making this week, and featuring on my Glamour magazine blog, Vitamin G. Hope that’s alright! I will give you credit for the photos and link back for the recipe. Readers will love this! Thanks much, xo, Sarah
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Lori Lange Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:06 PM
@Sarah Jio, Thanks Sarah!
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This looks/sounds delicious! I wish I had a larger food processor so I could try it.
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Lori Lange Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:05 PM
@Lisa @ Early Morning, You can always just cut the flour and butter together with a pastry cutter in a bowl. It’s just more work to do it that way.
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I’m DEFINITELY baking your recipe this weekend. And you’re so right about family recipes. My mom has a ton that cannot get lost!
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You’re featured on this site!:
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/03/breakfast-at-your-desk-irish-s.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+glamour%2Fvitamin-g+%28Glamour%3A+Vitamin+G%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
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I made my soda bread yesterday. lets see if I ever get around to post it!!! lol
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All I can say is Super YUM!!!
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I can’t wait for St Paddy’s day! Thanks for the post!
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I have yet to make Irish soda bread. I need to get on that. I’m not a huge raisin fan so I definitely love the addition of the cherries here. Those, I love.
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Instead of dried cherries can candied cherries be used?
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Lori Lange Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 7:45 PM
@TOM, I suppose so… I’m not really familiar with them.
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