No yeast bread in a hurry? This delicious no knead white bread is ready in 30 minutes and uses only a handful of ingredients. An easy Soda Bread recipe made with white flour, with a light cake-like texture and wonderful crust.
You will also love… my No Knead Bread
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Hey everyone… NOW is the time to finally bake bread from scratch. Only one (not so) small problem… yeast is tough to come by at the moment.
If you are thinking “can I even make bread without yeast?” the answer is a resounding YES.
One solution is, of course, using a sourdough starter instead of yeast. Many people have a veritable passion for sourdough bread but impatient ol’ me ain’t one of them. (<––––– UPDATE? I managed to master delicious and easy No Knead Sourdough Bread!)
Enter… Soda Bread! This quick emergency bread recipe uses all purpose flour, baking soda, buttermilk and salt. It is INCREDIBLY easy to make and also the fastest bread recipe ever!
No kneading, no waiting for the bread to rise, all you have to do is mix the ingredients together, shape them into a loaf and bake.
The hardest part is waiting long enough for the bread to cool down before slicing and slathering with butter… I can’t describe just how delicious it is!
WHITE SODA BREAD
Most Irish soda bread recipes use a mix of wholemeal and white flour and usually that’s how I bake mine.
Right now it’s tough to find any but the most basic flour so this recipe uses plain white flour.
But evenn if you have strong bread flour in your pantry I would advise you to use all purpose flour in this no yeast bread recipe.
NO YEAST BREAD INGREDIENTS
You can make this bread with just four ingredients – flour, baking soda, buttermilk and salt. I prefer to add a fifth ingredient – a little bit of sugar to enhance the flavor of this soda bread.
If you haven’t got buttermilk – hard to source at the moment – then it’s very easy to make your own. Simply add a little vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk, stir and leave to thicken and sour.
I found I got the best tasting soda bread by using both vinegar and lemon juice. but you can use one or the other.
HOW TO MAKE NO YEAST BREAD (SODA BREAD)
STEP 1 Mix the milk with the vinegar and lemon juice. Stir well and set aside for 10 minutes. The milk will thicken and look a bit curdled – this is what we want! If you have buttermilk you can use that instead and leave out the vinegar and lemon.
STEP 2 Put the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and use a balloon whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
STEP 3 Add the soured milk (or buttermilk) to the bowl.
STEP 4 Use a wooden spoon to gently mix the wet and dry ingredients until you have a shaggy sticky dough. Use your hands to bring the dough together but don’t overwork it, just mix it enough so that it comes together.
STEP 5 Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work top and use your hands to quickly shape it into a round loaf.
STEP 6 Put the loaf on a greased baking sheet and pat it down slightly. Use a sharp knife to make a cross deep in the top of your loaf. This helps your bread to cook evenly so do not skip this step!
STEP 7 Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the bread is golden and the bottom sounds hollow if tapped.
STEP 8 Transfer the bread to a wire rack and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
TIPS & FAQS
CAN I MAKE VEGAN SODA BREAD? Yes, simply replace the milk with a non dairy alternative such as soy milk.
HOW LONG DOES SODA BREAD KEEP? Soda bread does not keep as well as yeasted bread and this is precisely why this recipe makes a small loaf.
The bread will last for a couple of days in the bread bin but after that it will start to harden. Luckily this brings us to our next question…
CAN YOU FREEZE SODA BREAD? Yes! Wait until the loaf has cooled down completely, slice, wrap and freeze. You can toast the slices straight from the freezer – delicious for breakfast or with a bowl of hot soup.
NEED TO KNOW
Baking soda is the same thing as BICARBONATE OF SODA. This leavening agent reacts with the acidity in the buttermilk (or the vinegar/lemon juice) to give your no yeast bread its rise. Do check your baking soda is within date if you don’t bake often.
DOs AND DON’Ts Do add a bit more milk or water if the dough is too dry. Avoid adding more flour unless the dough is still very sticky when you turn it out. Handle the dough gently and avoid kneading it too much – unlike regular bread you really need to handle this as little as possible.
HAVE YOU MADE MY NO YEAST BREAD RECIPE? Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day!
No Yeast Bread – White Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose white flour (plain white flour) plus extra for rolling
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup (180 ml) whole milk (see notes)
- 1 tbsp white or red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Butter for greasing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F / 190C. Grease a heavy baking sheet with a little butter or dust with flour.
- Mix the milk with the vinegar and lemon juice. Stir well and set aside for 10 minutes. The milk will thicken and look a bit curdled – this is what we want!
- Put the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and use a balloon whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
- Add the soured milk to the bowl.
- Use a wooden spoon to gently mix the wet and dry ingredients until you have a shaggy, sticky dough. Don’t overwork the dough, just mix it enough so that it comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work top and use your hands to quickly shape it into a round loaf.
- Put the loaf on the prepared baking sheet and pat it down slightly to flatten.
- Use a sharp knife to make a cross deep in the top of your loaf. This helps your bread to cook evenly so do not skip this step!
- Bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the bread is golden and the bottom sounds hollow if tapped.
- Transfer the bread to a wire rack and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
Nutritional Info
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Bal says
Finally a simple recipe using lemon/vinegar instead of yeast. Tryed a few different recipes
and this one is the best and actually worked. I definitely recommend it. It’s delicious!☺
Lucy Parissi says
So glad you liked it!