Irish Soda Bread & Leprechaun Traps

Disclaimer: This post contains a recipe highlighting a different country or culture. While I strive for authenticity, I sometimes need to make adjustments to recipes due to ingredient availability.  

 St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner!  That means it’s the perfect time for Irish staples like Corned Beef and Cabbage and Irish Soda Bread.

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, I wasn’t originally planning to make the bread, but then Spud decided that he needed a leprechaun trap.  He made a tiny shoe box restaurant, complete with a tiny menu!

After seeing the menu, I knew I had to recreate it.  Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage was already on the family menu, and sausages were easy to pull out of the freezer.  

The soda bread took a little research.  From what  can tell, this is not the most authentically Irish of soda bread recipes, but it’s the one I thought would best match my family’s tastes.  In traditional recipes, whole wheat flour is used (I almost went for it!) along with soda, buttermilk, and raisins.  I omitted the raisins (or the kids wouldn’t have eaten it) and added the butter and egg.  These additions make a richer dough.  

The end result was phenomenal and tasted a lot like buttermilk biscuits!

I’m so glad the leprechaun trap included soda bread so we finally gave it a try!

Check out these recipes for more ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Irish Soda Bread & Leprechaun Traps
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Dingle Pie
• Our Good Life: Irish Nachos
• Palatable Pastime: Bangers and Mash
• Sneha’s Recipe: Irish Scrambled Eggs With Chaffles
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Irish Stout Tea-Infused Truffles
• Food Lust People Love: Ham and Split Pea Soup (Instant Pot)
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Colcannon | Irish Mashed Potatoes with Kale
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Irish Potato Farls
• The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen: Easy Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

Recipe from Simply Recipes

4 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup butter, cut in small pieces

1 egg

1 ¾ cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Add the butter and use fingers to work the butter into the flour until only small bits remain.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk.  Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine.

As the dough comes together, pour it out onto a work surface.  Use a dough cutter/bench scraper, fold the dough over itself until the flour is incorporated.  The dough will still be shaggy/lumpy.

Place the dough into a cast iron skillet and use the bench scrape to cut an X shape into the center to help the bread bake evenly.  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

Once baked, cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.