The Irish soda bread is an Irish bread made without yeast. On the blog, you can already find the classic, salty, or rather neutral version I prepared following our trip to Ireland this summer. Now I made it in a sweet version, with chocolate and toasted hazelnuts, a delight slice after slice. It’s excellent freshly baked, but also the next day, sliced and served at breakfast or snack. If you like, you can also lightly toast the slices on both sides, so it will be excellent even after 2-3 days.
The peculiarity of this bread is that it is made without yeast, but with the addition of baking soda, and in my sweet version, a bit of baking powder. It is the baking soda that, in contact with the buttermilk, allows the bread to rise and achieve a soft interior. So you just need a bowl and a spoon to prepare the dough in a few minutes and then it goes straight into the oven!
If you also want to prepare the classic version, follow this recipe of mine:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 1 loaf
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1.8 oz toasted hazelnuts
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 7 oz dark chocolate chips
Steps
Making Irish soda bread with chocolate and hazelnuts is super easy! First, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (static).
Coarsely chop the hazelnuts.
Place the flour in a bowl with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Mix.
Separately, mix the buttermilk with the eggs until you get a homogeneous mixture. Then pour the buttermilk and egg mixture over the flour and baking soda mix and briefly stir everything with a spatula or wooden spoon, then add the dark chocolate chips and coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts. Mix the dough just long enough to combine all the ingredients and no longer see flour traces. It will be rather soft and sticky, that’s fine.
Transfer the dough into a cast iron pot (approx. 9 inches in diameter), lined with parchment paper, trying to shape it into a loaf. With a sharp and wet knife, make a nice deep cross.
Put the lid on the pot and bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit (static) for 50 minutes. Then remove the lid and continue baking for another 5 minutes, until the Irish soda bread is golden. Do the toothpick test.
Take it out of the oven and let your Irish soda bread with chocolate and hazelnuts cool on a rack before serving.
Tips
If you like, you can replace the toasted hazelnuts with walnuts, almonds, or chopped pistachios.
