Classic Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread

This gluten free Irish soda bread is a lightly sweet quick bread that tastes best slathered with some extra Irish butter. Celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or any day, the way you remember with this classic, golden brown soda bread!

Why this recipe works

Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread, not a yeast bread, but it's not your typical quick bread. You don't bake it in a loaf pan, to start. Plus, I make it more like a pastry, with clumps of cold butter, chilled buttermilk, and a light touch when handling.

Made this way, the bread is light, tender and buttery. But you can slice it perfectly, either in wedges or more traditional slices.

I first developed this recipe 2015 when my gluten free son's grammar school class was celebrating St. Patrick's Day by sharing Irish soda bread. He still remembers today how I made sure that he could have what everyone else did when he was small. Let's bring it all back, for ourselves and our gluten free loved ones!

Recipe ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make this recipe, including the role each ingredient plays in a successful soda bread:

• Gluten free flour: Provides most of the structure for the soda bread. Choose a well-balanced flour blend with a base of superfine rice flour like Better Batter's original blend or Nicole's Best multipurpose with added xanthan gum. Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag may also work with an additional 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum since it doesn't contain enough to provide the necessary binding.
• Baking soda and baking powder: Provide rise in the oven and help the soda bread brown.
• Salt: Brightens the other flavors.
• Cream of tartar: Along with the acid in the buttermilk, reacts with baking soda to create a full rise in the oven. Adds a slight tangy flavor, too.
• Sugar: Adds sweetness that complements the dried fruit and locks in moisture for a tender crumb.
• Butter: Adds buttery flavor and creates steam as the clumps of cold fat layered between flour expands, lifting the dough. It also helps the bread brown.
• Raisins: Add sweetness, a bit of moisture, and helps make the bread more festive as a special occasion holiday treat.
• Buttermilk: Adds moisture, tanginess, and reacts with baking soda to create rise.
• Eggs: Help bind the dough together and create structure that helps the bread keep its shape as it cools.

How to make gluten free Irish soda bread (step by step photos)

Here's a visual representation of how to make this recipe in your own kitchen. For full instructions and ingredient amounts, please see the recipe card below.

1. Combine dry ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, salt, cream of tartar and sugar. Whisk well to avoid any pockets of leavener and create a cohesive dough.

2. Add butter
Starting with very cold butter, use a coarse grater to shred the butter into the bowl of dry ingredients and toss to coat. You can also dice the butter, toss it in the dry ingredients and flatten the pieces into shards between floured fingers. Either way will scatter cold clumps of butter throughout for an even rise.

3. Mix in raisins
Add the raisins or other dried fruit pieces to the mixing bowl, and mix gently until evenly scattered in the dry ingredients. The mixture will look dry and clumpy.

4. Whisk wet ingredients
In a small bowl or 2 cup or larger measuring cup, whisk together cold eggs and buttermilk. It's best to beat the eggs first for about 30 seconds to ensure the yolks and whites are fully combined for a smooth mixture.

5. Add wet to dry
Create a well in the center of the ingredients in the mixing bowl and pour in the cold buttermilk mixture. That makes it easy to combine with a mixing spoon without overmixing to combine, which can melt the cold butter. If there are any very dry pockets of flour, add a bit more buttermilk sparingly to just those parts until the dough holds together.

6. Shape the loaf
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface (on a piece of parchment if you're baking in a cast iron skillet) and shape gently into a round disk about 9-inches in diameter. Handle lightly so you don't melt the butter and don't compress the dough too much.

7. Score
Use a large, sharp knife and slice a cross or X about 1-inch deep into the center of the loaf, stopping about 1-inch away from the edges of the disk all around. This will allow steam to escape during baking.

8. Bake
Lift the shaped loaf (on parchment if using) into the center of your baking pan or skillet. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until the loaf is lightly golden brown all over, firm to the touch in the center, and a tester pressed down into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs (not wet).

Pay attention to all doneness indicators, not the clock, when determining that the loaf is done baking. If you're baking in a cast iron skillet, the baking time may be shorter and the crust will likely be crisper.

9. Let cool, slice and serve
Allow the loaf to cool in the pan until stable enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Slide out any paper lining between the loaf and the wire rack so air can circulate all around during cooling.

Expert tips

Keep your ingredients cold

Keep the butter cold to allow it to expand in the oven and lighten the crumb of the bread. Like with gluten free biscuits, handle the dough lightly so the heat of your hands doesn't melt the butter and begin with very cold buttermilk.

Slice the raw bread fully

The deep cross sliced into the raw soda bread dough lets heat escape during baking. Be sure to slice it about 1-inch thick to allow the bread to bake fully all the way in the center of this large loaf, without splitting haphazardly. Also, slicing the shape of cross into the bread was originally thought to let the devil out of your Irish soda bread!

Use real buttermilk or a proper sub

Real buttermilk is not just acidic and slightly curdled, it thicker than milk, so it has less moisture. Adding some lemon juice or other acid to milk only creates acidity, but does not mimic real buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk, use plain lowfat kefir, or half plain Greek-style yogurt or sour cream and half whole milk, by volume.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy free

Try replacing the cold, chopped butter with Melt brand or Miyoko’s Kitchen brand vegan butter. In place of buttermilk, use half plain nondairy yogurt and half unsweetened nondairy milk with a similar texture to cow's milk, by volume. My favorite nondairy milks here are coconut milk in the carton and soy milk.

Egg free

There are two eggs in this recipe. You might be able to replace each with chia eggs, Bob's Red Mill egg replacer, or JustEgg liquid egg replacer. If you choose to use flax eggs, keep in mind that they will add an earthy flavor.

Raisins

You can use currants or chopped dried apricots or prunes in place of raisins. In place of raisins, you can also try chopped raw unsalted walnuts or pecans, but you may need to add a bit more buttermilk since the dried fruit adds a bit of extra moisture. If you omit the raisins entirely, your loaf will be somewhat smaller and will probably bake a bit faster.

Storage instructions

Once cooled, you can wrap leftover Irish soda bread tightly in plastic wrap or Glad Press ‘n' Seal and store it at room temperature for about 2 days. Refresh slices by sprinkling lightly with lukewarm water and toasting lightly.

For longer storage, wrap tightly in freezer-safe wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. I recommend slicing the loaf before freezing it so you can defrost individual slices rather than the whole remaining loaf. Defrost at room temperature or in the toaster.