Irish Soda Bread

Everything I love about this recipe is right there in the intro. It’s crazy easy to make and delivers “moist, nutty wheatiness with a dense crumb and crunchy crust.” I baked it in the evening and we enjoyed it for breakfast the next morning—and for a couple of days after that. We tried it with butter, peanut butter, honey, and sharp Cheddar.

The most surprising aspect of this loaf is how moist it is, considering the fact that it doesn’t have any fat other than the yogurt (I used 2%) and walnuts. The flavor is pure, nutty whole-wheat goodness and deep, rich walnuts. I would love to try the recipe again with some chopped prunes mixed in.

I halved the recipe and noticed that the dough needed an additional 1/4 cup yogurt to be properly moistened, but this might be due to the type of yogurt I used. Brands vary when it comes to moisture content.

Wow, is this bread good. And—dare I say it?—it might even be good for you. I love the combination of whole-wheat flour, coarsely ground walnuts, and coarsely chopped walnuts. The result is nutty and, thanks to the yogurt, incredibly moist.

I used low-fat yogurt and didn’t notice anything lacking. Please don’t be tempted to add another tablespoon or two of brown sugar. The bread shouldn’t be too sweet. And it’s true—the bread lasts for days without becoming dry or tasting stale. It’s divine plain or slathered with lightly salted butter or homemade jam. And don’t get me started on how great it is toasted. Please, please, please make this bread!

Super simple, indeed! What an absolutely lovely twist on the standard white flour soda bread, yielding a more nutritious bread. Also, thanks to the walnuts, this bread has plenty of great flavor and texture. It’s moist, has a nice crumb for a quick bread, and the crust was not only appropriately crunchy but also beautifully golden brown after the 50 minutes of baking time called for by the recipe.

I used European-style whole-milk yogurt and made sure the brown sugar and baking soda were mixed in well. My dough never seemed soft, though, and it took more handling to bring it together than I would have liked. But fear not, the bread came out great and would go perfectly with cheese, soup, and marmalade. I especially think it would pair well with the Breakfast Cheese and the Concord Grape Jam.

It is, however, not the most visually appealing loaf. I chose to make one large free-form loaf, and it baked perfectly through to the center. While the bread was pretty when sliced, it did not make a very attractive loaf. My friend Pam commented that it looked like a brain. However, it was quite tasty, and a day later it was still moist and fresh-tasting.

Yum! I got a delicious, slightly sweet, slightly salty, nutty soda bread. I’ll take my hunk straight up with some salty butter.

But hold on. We need to back up a minute before we get ahead of ourselves. This bread relies solely on a reaction between an acid (yogurt) and a base (baking soda), so we should double-check that box of baking soda, which may or may not have been in your pantry since last year’s 2-day holiday baking fandango. Because if that baking soda has lost its oomph, your walnut soda bread will be an unleavened walnut rock. How do I know? My baking soda had lost its bubble power, and my first batch of bread was leaden. Let’s check the baking soda: Add 1/4 teaspoon vinegar to 1/2 cup hot water. This is your acid. Add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. You’ve got lots of bubbles right? No? Sorry, hon, then it’s off to the market with you for a fresh box.

This is a great recipe for Irish soda bread and is definitely something every cook should have in his or her arsenal as it’s almost too easy. I was hoping for a dense, rustic loaf of bread, and this recipe turned out to be just what I wanted. Not only was it what I was craving, but it also came together very quickly, and I’m sure that I’d have all the ingredients on hand at any given time. I would enjoy eating this bread in the morning with a touch of jam.

The recipe is pretty laid-back and undemanding, but beginners might find the following a touch difficult. My mixture required more liquid in order to come together as a workable dough, so I added about another 1/2 cup yogurt (I used low-fat plain yogurt). Next time, I’ll try mixing in some dried berries with the walnuts.

Easy, delicious, and versatile—this humble bread offers so much! It’s ever so slightly sweet but mostly neutral tasting, so as the description says, it goes well with many things: good old butter, jam, cheese (blue cheese with walnut is a no-brainer), salads, etc. It’s nice and dense, too, so a little goes a long way. I used grapeseed oil for the pan (didn’t want to use strongly flavored oil) and whole-milk yogurt. The dough is sticky, and it doesn’t have the smooth “kneaded” appearance, but don’t fret—it bakes just fine. Mine was free-form and baked perfectly in 50 minutes.

This is a really quick bread with good flavor and texture. I liked that the flour measurement was given in weight.

I used King Arthur white whole-wheat flour, light brown sugar, and fat-free yogurt. I made the bread in the traditional round crossed loaf, and it took just 50 minutes to bake. I actually made it twice, using pecans the second time, and liked that loaf better as I thought it had a mellower flavor, but my husband preferred the walnut version.

My only negative comment is that the dryness of the dough made it difficult to bring together, which might frustrate someone not familiar with making soda bread. I might try using honey instead of brown sugar next time. And there will be a next time.

I really loved the flavor and texture of the walnuts in this bread and couldn’t stop at just one slice. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about this recipe at first. The dough was still quite dry and crumbly after incorporating the yogurt with the dry ingredients, and it didn’t come together as well as I’d hoped. Nevertheless, I proceeded to form it into a round, slice the top, and bake it in the oven. The smell of toasted walnuts and warm wheat were overwhelming and absolutely irresistible. Once baked, the outside of the loaf still looked too floury and quite crumbly. Much to my surprise, though, when I sliced the loaf, a moist yet dense, nutty, heavenly slice of bread revealed itself!

This bread would be great in its simplest form with a slather of butter or jam or accompanying a warm wintry soup. I still feel that it could use a bit more liquid to allow for better incorporation and a more cohesive dough, but otherwise it was fantastic.

This soda bread surprised me in a good way. Based on the ingredients, I expected an overly dense bread that was one-dimensional in flavor. Instead, I got a hearty bread with a cornbread-like texture and great nutty flavor and crunch from the walnuts. The yogurt adds some moisture to the bread, and I think it helps the bread from being too dense. The brown sugar adds a touch of sweetness.

The bread worked really well with a creamy, spreadable cheese, and I think it’d also be great with something sweet, like apricot preserves. The bread is good alone too, but the flavors seem to shine when it’s served with something else.

A few tips that I’ll follow the next time I make this: Use a whisk to mix the dry ingredients. It was much faster than a wooden spoon and better at evenly mixing all of the ingredients. It’s easier to mix in the wet ingredients with your hands than with a spatula or wooden spoon, but be warned: it’s really messy. You end up with a lot of the dough on your hands that you have to scrape off. After I mixed in the yogurt, I noticed that a lot of flour still wasn’t incorporated. I let the dough sit for about 5 minutes and then continued mixing, which seemed to help.

The crust of this Irish soda bread was crunchy and the interior had a good distribution of walnuts throughout. It tasted pleasantly of walnuts without being overpowering. I would make this bread again and found it easier and tastier than the soda bread I normally make.

I used a brand of Irish soda brown bread flour, which is available from a flour mill in Britain. Towards the end of the mixing, I found it necessary to add a little milk to bring the remaining dry flour together into the dough. Instead of baking the bread on an oiled baking sheet, I oiled a baking sheet, pressed a piece of baking parchment down on the oil, and placed the loaf on that. The loaf didn’t expand significantly. In my opinion, it was a small to medium loaf. I cooked it at 180°C (356°F) for the 50 minutes stated, which gave the crust a golden brown color.

This soda bread has really good flavor and it is, indeed, easy to make. It took about 45 minutes to bake.

A quick tip: In step 2, you could just add the remaining walnuts to the food processor and pulse to get a few chunks rather than chop the walnuts by hand.

This is one yummy soda bread and so easy to make. Just throw everything together, mix, and bake. Super easy.

The recipe works great as it is written with the baking time on the dime at 50 minutes. I substituted 1/2 cup almond meal for the walnut meal just because I was low on walnuts. The bread came out perfectly, has a very hearty flavor, and stays fresh for multiple days. Everybody in the family loved it. A keeper, for sure!