Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread that has a crusty exterior and a soft dense inner crumb. This bread is often served on St. Patrick’s Day. Irish Soda Bread is a traditional quick bread that has raisins or currants added to the dough before baking.
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As most of you know by now—I love baking with sourdough. Adding sourdough starter to this bread just takes it up a notch. You can use unfed/discard starter since the baking soda and kefir react for leavening this loaf.
You can make this bread without raisins but in my opinion they just add something to this loaf. Irish Soda bread is very similar in texture to biscuits and my family loves to slather these slices with butter.
I bake loaf after loaf of sourdough bread and this one has become a favorite at our house. Tonight I served it with a beef, mushroom, carrot, and potato stew. It was delicious THM XO for our family.
You will find many more recipes in the spiral bound 600+ page Around the Family Table Cookbook and the hard cover, spiral bound It’s all About Sourdough. All recipes are sugar-free and label with the correct fuel. Books can be purchased using this link. We have now added additional items to our store… Sourdough Starter Kits and more. Buy It Now. Follow my blog, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Sourdough Irish Soda Bread THM E, Dairy-free, Sugar-free
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 1 cup sourdough starter–unfed or discard works well
- 2/3 cup kefir, low fat or fat-free
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon mineral salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup currants or raisins
- 1 egg white
- Place the flour into a mixing bowl. Grate the cold butter into the flour. Using you hands or pastry blender combine the butter and flour until crumbly. Set flour mixture aside. Blend sourdough starter, kefir and water together. (I use my KitchenAid Hand Blender ) Pour the starter mixture over the flour mixture. Whisk together until you have a moist dough ball. Cover. Allow to ferment for 7 hours at room temperature. When you are ready to bake the bread, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven in preheating, add salt, baking soda, and raisins to the fermenting dough. Knead well. If the baking soda is not incorporated properly you will have yellow streaks in the dough after baking. Divide dough in half. Shape into two round loaves. Place loaves on a parchment covered baking sheet. Beat the egg white until frothy. Brush over both loaves. Cut an X on the top of each loaf. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool. 12 servings.
- This loaf is best if eaten within a day or two. You can also freeze the baked loaves for up to 2 months.
I like to grate COLD butter into my flour. It makes it so much easier to incorporate the fat evenly through the flour if it is grated fine. I just use my hands to work it in but you can use a pastry blender.
The fat and flour are well combined and ready to have the liquid ingredients added. I love the above whisk when it comes to mixing sourdough items. It is very sturdy and makes it a breeze to mix dough.
The dough is fully mixed and is ready to ferment at room temperature for 7 hours. It will not have risen much in 7 hours but it will be softer and you will see bubbles in the dough.
The raisins, baking soda, and salt have been kneaded into the dough. The dough has been shaped into 2 loaves, brushed with beaten egg whites, and an X has been cut on the top.
These loaves below, have been baked ,and are ready to serve. Don’t they look wonderful! The outside is crusty with a moist inner crumb studded with raisins.
If you would like to learn more about the Trim Healthy way of eating you can purchase the PLAN BOOK. The Plan Book will tell you what foods to pair together to for healthy eating. There are also two Cookbooks to purchase….THM Cookbook and Trim Healthy Table.
This post has affiliated links, if you purchase items through these links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn’t change. Your purchase help support this blog, keeps new recipes coming, and assist with our move to a mission outreach of our church. Below are a few of my favorites listed under the affiliate store I purchase them.
The Trim Healthy Mama Store has wonderful products. They are a very pure source and have a great taste. Here is my affiliate link if you wish to use it. Trim Healthy Mama Store
Sourdough Irish Soda Bread THM E
Ingredients
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 1 cup sourdough starter–unfed or discard works well
- 2/3 cup kefir low fat or fat-free
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup currants or raisins
- 1 egg white
Instructions
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Place the flour into a mixing bowl. Grate the cold butter into the flour. Using you hands or pastry blender combine the butter and flour until crumbly. Set flour mixture aside. Blend sourdough starter, kefir and water together. I use my KitchenAid Hand Blender to blend the starter, kefir and water smooth. Pour the starter mixture over the flour mixture. Whisk together until you have a moist dough ball. Cover. Allow to ferment for 7 hours at room temperature. When you are ready to bake the bread, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven in preheating, add salt, baking soda, and raisins to the fermenting dough. Knead well. If the baking soda is not incorporated properly you will have yellow streaks in the dough after baking. Divide dough in half. Shape into to round loaves. Place loaves on a parchment covered baking sheet. Beat an egg white. Brush over both loaves. Cut an X on the top of each loaf. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool. 12 servings.
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This loaf is best if eaten within a day or two. You can also freeze the baked loaves for up to 2 months.
You will find many more recipes in the spiral bound 600+ page Around the Family Table Cookbook and the hard cover, spiral bound It’s all About Sourdough. All recipes are sugar-free and label with the correct fuel. Books can be purchased using this link. We have now added additional items to our store… Sourdough Starter Kits and more. Buy It Now. Follow my blog, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Can I substitute plain non-fat Greek Yogurt for the Kefir?
yes, you may need to thin it with a little water to kefir consistency.
I am so excited to find a recipe for THM Irish Soda Bread right before St. Patrick’s Day! I thought I would have to skip it this year to stay on plan. We are enjoying trying new recipes with your sourdough starter. Thank you so much!
I am so excited to find a recipe for THM Irish Soda Bread right before St. Patrick’s Day! I thought I would have to skip it this year to stay on plan. We are enjoying trying new recipes with your sourdough starter. Thank you so much!
Can I just add the baking soda and salt before the fermentation or will the baking soda die off in the fermentation process?
You can add the salt but NOT the baking soda. You want to add that just before baking the loaf.
I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of the white wheat. After sitting the 7 hours and then mixing in the soda, salt and raisins, it was a very wet dough. I could not get it to free form. So I put it all in a large bowl to bake. I wonder how if I should have used more pastry flour to make a stiffer dough. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll taste good.
Yes, you may have needed more flour.
When I was ready to bake, my dough was awesome and formed. As soon as I began to knead the salt, baking soda and raisins in, it got all soft and wet. What happened?
How long was the dough fermented?
I added caraway seeds with the raisins to give it the distinctive flavor that my dad’s Irish Soda Bread has. And sprinkled some extra THM brown sugar on top for texture. His is one of my most favorite treats and I’m so thankful to have this alternative!