Vegan Irish Soda Bread Recipe

5 from 9 votes

Vegan Irish Soda Bread Recipe

This classic vegan Irish soda bread recipe needs just four ingredients and it is ready in 45 minutes. It has everything you'd expect in a perfect soda bread: a slightly crisp crust, a moist, tender and slightly dense crumb, and delicious buttery flavor.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time45

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: European, Irish

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: slices

Calories: 164kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

Small bowl or cup measure
Large mixing bowl
Cast iron skillet or baking sheet

Ingredients

3½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup vegan yogurt
1 cup plant-based milk (I used almond milk. Any non-dairy milk is fine)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the vegan buttermilk by mixing the vegan yogurt with the non-dairy milk.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in 1 ½ cups of the buttermilk.
Make a claw with your hand and quickly mix the buttermilk into the flour in circular motions, without kneading, just until he dough comes together. Add the remaining buttermilk if needed, a little at a time. You can also mix with a wooden spoon. The dough will look shaggy but that's fine. Don't knead it to smooth it--you don't want to develop gluten.
Turn out the dough on a well-floured surface. Use your hands to shape it into a disc by patting down the top and tucking down the edges. Flip the dough over once so the smoother surface is on top, but keep in mind that this is a rustic bread and you don't need a very smooth disc of dough--it should look craggy.
Place the dough in a floured cast iron pan or on a baking sheet. Cut a deep cross into the bread using a knife, almost but not quite all the way to the bottom.
Bake the soda bread in a preheated 450-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden-brown on top. The bread should sound hollow when you knock on it with your knuckles. After 10 minutes get it out of the pan and place it on a rack to cool. You can slice the bread when warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Variations

To make this a whole-wheat soda bread, replace 1 ½ cups of the all purpose flour with whole-wheat flour.
To make this a sweeter bread, add 2 tablespoons sugar to the dry ingredients and whisk in.
Add 2 teaspoons caraway seeds to the dry ingredients before mixing in the buttermilk.

Nutrition