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.
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What makes this lightly sweet gluten free Irish soda bread so special?
I first developed this recipe many years ago when my gluten free son, who is now considerably taller than I am (and I'm not short) was in the early years of grammar school. They were “celebrating” St. Patrick's Day by sharing Irish soda bread.
Since he was already gluten free, and necessity is the mother of invention, I developed this recipe. I've been making it ever since—and when my son is feeling generous, he will remember the grammar school times to me.
Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread, not a yeast bread (although frankly I think it would make a fabulous yeast bread). And it's not your typical quick bread. First off, you don't bake it in a loaf pan like most quick breads. In fact, the Irish tradition began in the 1830's when baking soda was first introduced.
So there's that. Another distinction is that I make it more like a pastry. So I use cold ingredients, chunks of butter, and a light touch when handling.
Because of those changes, the bread is light, tender and almost flaky-pastry-like. But you can slice it perfectly, either in wedges or more traditional slices.
Sometimes I make it with fewer raisins, sometimes with more. I honestly can't decide which I like better. I do know that it doesn't feel like the start of spring without some Irish Soda Bread.
Does this soda bread have to have raisins?
In this recipe, you need at least 1 1/2 cups (or as much as 2 cups) raisins. I like Thompson raisins, but golden raisins like you see in the photos and video here are lovely, too.
You don't have to make Irish soda bread with raisins, but you'd need a substitute here. This recipe must have some sort of mix-in pieces to succeed.
We also have a recipe for savory gluten free Irish soda bread, which doesn't even have a single raisin. The savory recipe is more like traditional bread, even though it contains no yeast for leavening, either.
Tips to making the perfect free Irish soda bread
There are a few things to keep in mind when you follow this recipe for gf Irish soda bread:
Take the size of the baking pan into account
This is a large loaf. The recipe calls for a full 4 cups (560 g) of all purpose gluten free flour.
The baking time will be longer if the pan you bake it in is smaller, because the oven's heat must penetrate all the way to the center of a thicker bread. If you use a 10-inch pan or skillet, baking should be complete in 40 minutes.
If your pan or skillet is 9-inches, 45 minutes should do the trick. If you go even smaller, like an 8-inch baking pan, you'll have to adjust the baking time and temperature.
For an 8-inch pan, bake for 30 minutes at 375°F. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F, cover the loaf pan with foil to prevent burning, and bake for about another 30 minutes or until the top doesn't give noticeably when you press the center.
To make a much smaller loaf, you can split every ingredient in the recipe in half. Bake in a 6-inch pan for about 30 minutes.
Make sure your ingredients are cold
You're making a quick bread, but it's made more like a pastry. Be sure to use cold ingredients that are handled lightly, and you shouldn't have trouble making a successful loaf.
Select your gluten free flour blend carefully
Stick to Better Batter classic blend gluten free flour, like I used, or try Cup4Cup, which is an all purpose gluten free flour blend that is best for pastries since it's light and airy. If you can't buy either one, you can always make my mock blends. The link in the recipe card attached to the “all purpose gluten free flour blend” ingredient contains full information on selecting a proper flour blend.
Gluten free Irish Soda Bread: Ingredients and substitutions
How to make dairy free Irish soda bread without gluten
The butter and buttermilk in this recipe both contain dairy. Try replacing the cold, chopped butter with Melt brand or Miyoko’s Kitchen brand vegan butter.
You may also be able to use Spectrum brand non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Just be careful about chilling it too much, since it becomes very hard when very cold, unlike butter.
In place of buttermilk, if you can have dairy, use half plain dairy yogurt and half whole milk, by volume. If you can't have dairy, use half plain nondairy yogurt and half unsweetened nondairy milk (I like almond milk best).
How to make gluten free egg free Irish soda bread
There are two eggs in this recipe. You might be able to replace each with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).
Instead, you could try our recipe for savory gluten free Irish soda bread. That recipe doesn't call for eggs at all.
Can you make this recipe without sugar?
This is a sweet Irish soda bread recipe. It has 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and is developed to use sugar.
Sugar isn't only a sweetener. It also adds bulk and tenderizes the bread. You may be able to reduce the sugar a bit, to 1/2 cup (100 grams), but your results may not be as expected.
For a savory version that only has a bit of sugar, that's even optional, please click the link above for the savory gf soda bread recipe.
FAQs
The deep cross sliced into raw gluten free Irish soda bread dough is to let heat escape during baking. The bread is then able 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!
Yes! Unless Irish soda bread is made to be gluten free, it is made with wheat flour, which contains gluten. It isn't safe to eat conventional Irish soda bread on a gluten free diet—but you can eat this Irish soda bread because it's made to be gluten free!
If you're on a yeast-free gluten free diet, but you still want to enjoy some crusty bread, this gluten free Irish soda bread recipe is a great choice. We make it with some sugar and plenty of butter, so I'm not sure if it's really “health” food!
No, the Irish soda bread that is sold at Trader Joe's around St. Patrick's Day is made with wheat flour, so it is not gluten free.
Yes! You can replace the 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk in this recipe with:
– 3/4 cup cow's milk and 3/4 cup plain yogurt;
– 1 1/2 cups plain whole milk kefir; or
– 3/4 cup cow's milk and 3/4 cup sour cream
Do not try to replace buttermilk by adding a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to milk, which will lead to a slightly sour, thin milk that has too much moisture and not the proper texture.
Classic Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread | Lightly Sweet
Ingredients
- 4 cups (560 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter), plus more for sprinkling
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter roughly chopped and chilled
- 1 ½ cups (225) raisins plus 1/2 cup more as desired
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs 100 g, weighed out of shell
- 1 ½ cups (12 fluid ounces) buttermilk chilled (plus more as necessary)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch round baking pan or a 10-inch cast iron skillet, and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the chopped and chilled butter, and toss to coat the butter in the dry ingredients. Between your well-floured thumb and forefinger, flatten each chunk of butter and return it to the dry ingredients.
- Add the raisins (more or less, to taste), and toss to coat the raisins in the dry ingredients.
- Place 1 1/2 cups of the chilled buttermilk in a large measuring cup or bowl with a pour spout, add the eggs, and whisk to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk and egg mixture and mix gently to combine. The dough should come together.
- With clean hands, knead the dough gently. If there are any spots that are dry and crumbly, add more buttermilk sparingly by the tablespoon as necessary to bring the dough together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle lightly with more flour. Pat the dough into a round that is approximately 9-inches in diameter, piling it higher toward the center and sprinkling lightly with more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
- Place the dough in the prepared baking pan and, with a very sharp knife, slice a large “X” on the top about 1-inch deep (each slash should be about 6-inches long). If the dough seems to have warmed during handling, place the pan in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes or until the butter is once again firm.
- Place the baking pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the bread is firm to the touch (about 45 minutes, depending on size).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the baking pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool further.
- Slice and serve warm, with butter. It is also excellent the next day, toasted.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Stacie b says
The first time I made this it was such a hit that I made my 2nd loaf today. Again, it was a huge success. No one could even tell that it was gluten free. My only comment to add is that mine took an hour to bake instead of 45 minutes but as long as you do the toothpick test, you can’t go wrong. I like using a Dutch over for the perfect crust. I’d love to post a picture of it!
Nicole Hunn says
That’s so great to hear, Stacie! Unfortunately, there’s no function for you to share a photo in blog comments. I wish there were—I’d love to see it!
Tera says
I make a different Irish Soda Bread recipe every year, sometimes GF, sometimes white flour, sometimes whole wheat. And every year the family puts on a fake smile and eats the dry, crumbly bread for a day or two until I give up and toss it. NOT THIS YEAR. OMG this was the best Irish Soda Bread I’ve ever had or made. I served it to a small group of about 10 adults and kids and it was gobbled up to rave reviews. So moist and tender with lots of raisins and absolutely perfect slathered in Kerrygold butter. I opted to use Cup4Cup as my flour and followed the recipe to a T. Wow! This one’s a keeper!
Nicole Hunn says
Oh no, Tera! I mean, at least they were polite, but still. :) I’m so glad you were able to serve something everyone can enjoy. It’s just not the same when everyone isn’t eating the same soda bread. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
Lakshmi says
This was amazing- followed the recipe exactly except that I used only egg yolk instead of the whole egg. Slightly scone like and Very delicious
Linda Scalice says
My friends who can eat gluten loved it! I served this Irish soda bread at our weekly Mahjong game. Joan, who bakes Irish soda bread, told me twice how good it was.
I made two breads. I made the first one with my usual go-to gf flour, Walmart’s Great Value gf flour, which I had in the house. The taste was good but the bread was dense.
I shopped and bought some Cup 4 Cup flour and made the second one. What a difference! The taste was the same, but the second bread rose higher, was much less dense, and came out perfectly.
I followed the recipe exactly for both bakes. My only addition was ground caraway seeds in them. While I like the taste of caraway, I don’t like the seeds so I ground them in my coffee mill.
This will be my regular soda bread recipe, and I will be using the recommended flour.
The first won’t go to waste-I’m making bread pudding with it. Yum!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread, Linda, and that you were able to see the difference a high quality all purpose gluten free flour blend makes! Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Carlyn Sloma says
Hi has anyone cut the recipe in half?
Thank you
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Carlyn, since there are 2 eggs, you can easily cut this recipe in half. Just reduce the yield in the recipe card to 0.5, but you’ll also have to watch the baking time. I would begin checking at 30 minutes, but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tried it.
Melisa Dumas says
I’m new to gf and can’t wait to make your recipe. I want to use an organic gf flour but I see you don’t recommend Namaste. Would the Arrowhead Mills organic gf blend work for this recipe? Thank you
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid no, I don’t recommend that blend, Melisa. You can try it, but I can’t promise results unless you use one of my recommended flour blends, as discussed on the all purpose gluten free flour blends page that you visited when you learned that I don’t recommend Namaste. I wish more of the available blends were more reliable, but you can always make your own version of one of my recommended blends by following my “mock” recipes, also explained on that page.
Melisa Dumas says
Thank you!
Julie Dunlap says
Absolutely Delicious ! Thank you for this !
Rochelle says
Has anyone made this with a cast iron skillet? Baking times still the same as in the recipe?
Nicole Hunn says
The recipe itself discusses using a round baking pan or cast iron skillet, Rochelle.
Rochelle says
Oops that’s what happens when you are excitedly reading a recipe, you overlook that first paragraph – gotta read it a few times hahahaha. Thanks Nicole :)
Nicole Hunn says
No worries. I’m glad you’re excited about it!