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Happy St. Patrick’s day week everyone!!! What are you doing to celebrate?! May I suggest making a loaf of this brown soda bread?!
As you know I studied abroad in Ireland for a semester of college. One of the foods I came to love while I was living there was their brown soda bread. Have you had it before? It’s hearty, rustic, dry, and best eaten with a generous schemer of good quality creamy butter.
Side note about butter: Have you had Kerrygold Irish butter? I have been able to find it here in the states for several years now and It’s the only butter I buy! It’s made from the milk from grass fed cows which gives it that gorgeous buttery yellow color (see photos below). It’s truly and honestly the BEST butter you can get your hands on and makes all the difference in the taste of your brown soda bread – I might be biased, but just trust me – Ireland knows about butter!
Back to the brown soda bread recipe! A few years ago I shared a recipe for Irish brown soda bread. It was my first attempt at making brown soda bread and I realized just how easy it was! I wanted to share a gluten free version of brown soda bread for all of my gluten free people out there. There was one problem with this idea….
Brown soda bread uses whole wheat flour, which is what makes it brown and earthy and nutty…but whole wheat doesn’t really exist in gluten free baking. Of course I could have made a regular white soda bread with an all purpose gluten free flour blend – still delicious – but it wouldn’t have been that delicious hearty brown soda bread I love so much!
Then stumbled across a product that Bob’s Red Mill makes, it’s called Gluten Free Hearty Whole Grain Bread Mix. My heart got excited for the possibility of a gluten free brown soda bread!!! Guess what guys! It totally worked, you’d never be able to tell that it’s gluten free!!!! Thanks Bob’s Red Mill for making wonderful products, you guys rock!!!
The gluten free hearty whole grain bread mix contains good-for you delicious ingredients such as sorghum flour and buckwheat flour that make it have that rustic whole wheat taste without the actual whole wheat flour or gluten! CELEBRATE!
The mix also has a few seeds: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and a few caraway seeds. Obviously the seeds aren’t traditional to a brown soda bread, but I personally like how they add a nuttiness and a grainy texture similar to a whole wheat flour. However, there aren’t so many in there that you feel like you’re just eating a bunch of seeds, nice and subtle. If you really don’t want to have seeds in your bread, a solution would to let the flour fall through a fine mesh siv and allow the seeds to stay behind – totally up to you.
This gluten free brown soda bread recipe is as simple and easy to make as regular whole wheat brown soda bread. With the added ingredients of melted butter for richness and a whisked egg for extra binding those are the only two extra ingredients needed. All you do is mix the dry ingredients together, add the wet and form it into a large ball. Bake it for 40 minutes until it sounds hollow when you tap it and let it cool. Grab your Irish butter and maybe some jam if you like, and dig in!
No yeast, rising time, or kneading required. Only 10 minutes to mix it all together and then you can enjoy a glass of Irish coffee while you wait for it to bake. 😉
I know you will love this gluten free brown soda bread!!!
It’s hearty, rustic, filling, and soul satisfying. It is great for breakfast with some butter and jam. It’s perfect for a quick snack – serve with Irish breakfast tea for all the Irish vibes. Makes a great side to any meal. And especially goes well with soups or stews for dipping, thanks to it’s dryness of the bread. Try it with my Irish beef and Guinness stew (not gluten free), or my leek potato and blue cheese soup – for all the Irish feels. It would also be great along side my slow cooker chicken and wild rice soup, or my Dairy free zuppa toscana soup (we’re mixing Italian and Irish here, but who cares as long is it tastes good?!).
No matter how you enjoy this brown soda bread you will feel all comforted and cozy. Yes, a bread that can make you feel that amazing?! Who knew! That’s the magic of Irish soda bread!
If you are not needing to eat gluten free I suggest my Irish brown soda bread recipe. Just as easy to make, super delicious and yummy!
Can I please have a fresh loaf of this brown soda bread every day for the rest of my life?! Don’t tell the baguette…but I would probably chose a slice brown soda bread over a baguette any day! Anyone else with me?!?!
I mean just look at that hearty slice of brown soda bread with a good spread of creamy butter on top, this photo will haunt you in your dreams! Can’t get enough!
Craving more Irish inspired recipes? Irish boxty potato pancakes with Brussels sprouts and bacon, leek potato and blue cheese soupIrish beef and Guinness stew, traditional Irish shepherd’s pie (Friday’s recipe), Irish coffee, apple cinnamon and barley pudding, or healthy shamrock shake (totally an American St. Patrick’s day treat). Have a happy St. Patrick’s day and Slainte!
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- Author: Emily Koch
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 1 medium loaf 1x
- Category: Sides, Appetizers, Breakfast, Snack
- Cuisine: Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free
Description
A gluten free version of a traditional Irish bread, brown soda bread. Hearty, rustic, perfect for dipping in soups and best spread with butter. An easy bread to make. No yeast, rising time, or kneading required! So yum!
Ingredients
UnitsScale
- 2 cupsBob’s Red Mill gluten free hearty whole grain bread mix*
- 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons All Purpose gluten free flour blend ( I like to use Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 baking flour)
- 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted**
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup butter milk***
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a sheet pan, set aside. Note: If making your own buttermilk (see notes), make it at this time and allow it to sit while you continue making the bread.
- Mix dry ingredients: To a large bowl mix together both of the flours, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients: Form a well in your dry ingredients. Pour your buttermilk, whisked egg, and melted butter into the well. Use hands or a good sturdy spatula to mix together until well combined. If the dough is too wet and sticky add in an extra tablespoon or 2 of AP GF flour. The texture should be a little sticky but not wet (see photo in post). A good dough ball should form.
- Finish: Lightly flour your hands and form the dough into a large ball. Flatten it out slightly. Use a sharp knife to create a shallow X on the top of the bread. This is an optional step but traditional Irish practice to bless the bread. For the gluten free version it does tend to separate the bread as it bakes, which I like for portion control purposes. If you want a longer slices skip the step all together. Place the loaf on the greased baking sheet.
- Bake: Bake on the middle rack for 40 to 45 minutes. You will know the bread is done when you tap on the bottom and it sounds hollow. Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing. The bread will last for 3 to 4 days, however it is best the day it is baked.
Notes
*I wanted to make this gluten free bread similar to a hearty brown bread, but obviously without the whole wheat flour. This is why I specifically used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free hearty whole grain mix. It gives that rustic, hearty feel you would get from whole wheat flour. If you can’t find it or don’t want to use a specific brand than just make it using all purpose gluten free flour blend of choice. You just won’t have that whole wheat feel to it, it will be more of a white soda bread. I am confident this would work, however I haven’t tested it!
**Dairy Free Option: use vegan butter and any type of non dairy, unflavored and unsweetened milk to make your own buttermilk (recipe below).
***Buttermilk: Buttermilk is ideal for this recipe but if you don’t have it mix 1 cup of any kind of milk with 1 tablespoon of acid (such as lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or distilled vinegar). Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes and it will curdle slightly, this is good. Congrats, you’ve just made your own buttermilk!!! I used unsweetened, unflavored almond milk and apple cider vinegar because that’s what I like to keep on hand. Any type of milk you like will do.
This recipe makes a medium loaf of soda bread. If you want a larger one than you can easily double the recipe.
Not gluten free? Try my Irish brown soda bread recipe!
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