This Sweet Irish Soda Bread recipe is a delicious sweeter version with brown sugar, dried raisins and dried cherries added in.
What is the Best Irish Soda Bread Recipe?
This Sweet Irish Soda Bread is my favorite soda bread recipe. I guess it’s the sugar that draws me in. There’s a bit of brown sugar added in to make it more of a sweet bread, and then there’s the addition of sweet and tangy dried fruit. Is it the world’s best Irish soda bread recipe? Well, that’s for you to decide. You may prefer a more traditional Irish soda bread with raisins and caraway seeds. You might like the savory classic Irish soda bread that you eat with Irish stew or roasted lamb. This sweet version is not quite as savory. It’s more of a sweet soda bread that you might like to have for breakfast or snacking. I love to serve it with butter and a drizzle of honey.
Ingredients Needed:
- Flour: I use all purpose flour for this recipe. I haven’t tried gluten-free flour, but I would imagine if you use a flour that is cup-for-cup a gluten free sub for all purpose that it will probably work.
- Brown Sugar: Use light or dark brown sugar. You can sub white sugar, if that’s all you have.
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt!
- Butter: You’ll need cold, unsalted butter.
- Buttermilk: The buttermilk activates with the baking soda to give the bread its rise (instead of using yeast).
- Eggs: You’ll need one large egg and one large egg yolk.
- Raisins: I like to use golden raisins for this recipe. They are sweet and more delicious than brown raisins, and they’ll be visually more appealing with the other dried fruit.
- Dried Cherries: These are delicious combined with the golden raisins. Look for dried cherries near the raisins in your market.
How to make Sweet Irish Soda Bread:
You’ll need a food processor to get the base of the dough going with the butter added to the dry ingredients. That’s the easiest way to do it. Otherwise, you can use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter to the flour mixture in a bowl (without the need for a food processor).
Then you’ll stir in the buttermilk and eggs and then the dried fruit. That mixture is transferred to a floured surface, where you will knead it a few times to make sure the dough comes together. Next, you’ll divide the dough in half and place two round loaves on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slash the tops of the loaves with an “X.” And then bake until golden.
Recipe Tips:
- A cheese grater may be used to “grate” the cold butter instead of cutting it into pieces.
- Add 1 tablespoon of finely grated orange zest to the batter to contribute a citrus twist to the bread.
- Don’t over mix the dough. It’s meant to look shaggy!
- Bake these sweet Irish soda bread loaves in a cast iron pan if you would like a really crisp crust.
- This lovely Irish soda bread is meant to be enjoyed the day its made. But it will keep for a couple of days kept at room temperature in a sealed container or large zip. Any longer than that and this bread tends to dry out. It may also be frozen in a freezer zip bag for up to 2 months.
Substitution Suggestions:
- It’s easy to adjust the sugar amount for sweet Irish soda bread. If you like things really sweet, add an additional 1/4 cup of sugar. If you don’t then keep the recipe as is, or reduce the sugar amount.
- Feel free to experiment with the dried fruit. Use dried cranberries, currants or dried blueberries!
What I Love About This Recipe:
- I love Irish soda bread, and I often make my Irish soda bread muffins for breakfast. But I love the flavor of this sweeter version of a large loaf of soda bread, and it’s great to have for breakfast too!
- The combination of dried fruits in this loaf is perfect.
- My family likes to gobble up a warm loaf of sweet Irish soda bread, and then it’s nice to be able to freeze the other loaf enjoy it at a later time.
Favorite St. Patrick’s Day Recipes:
Sweet Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) cold, unsalted butter (cut into pieces)
- 1¼ cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¾ cup golden raisins (plus a few more)
- ¾ cup dried cherries (plus a few more)
- extra flour for dusting and kneading
Instructions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Give it a couple of pulses, then add the butter pieces; pulse until butter is incorporated and small crumbs are formed.
- Pour the flour/butter mixture into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the buttermilk, egg, and egg yolk and stir just until moistened. Then stir in the ¾ cup raisins and ¾ cup cherries.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 5 to 10 times (dusting flour lightly onto dough if it’s too sticky). Knead just until the dough comes together and is smooth. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a round. Stud a few extra raisins and cherries into the tops of the loaves. Dust the tops of the rounds lightly with a little flour.
- Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet, leaving about three inches between them. Place another baking sheet of the same size underneath to prevent burning. With a sharp knife, slash the tops with a large X about ½-inch deep.
- Bake until the loaves are a dark-golden brown and crusty, 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the X comes out clean. The loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the side.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Store wrapped in plastic at room temperature or freeze in a zip bag for up to 2 months.
Notes
- Using low fat buttermilk is just fine.
- If you don’t have a food processor, this recipe can be made by hand. Use your fingers to rub the flour and butter together to create the crumbs.
- Check on your baking bread at about 25 minutes. If it appears to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
