Sourdough Irish Soda Bread (Easy Discard Recipe)

slices of sourdough Irish bread and butter

This sourdough Irish soda bread recipe is one of our favorites and perfect for pairing with your favorite soups or Irish stew! It uses basic ingredients and gives a unique twist to your traditional Irish soda bread recipe.

This recipe can be a fun addition to your St. Patrick’s Day dinner and a delicious way to celebrate with your family. Our family has a couple of March birthdays that fall around St. Patrick’s Day, so we love to incorporate simple Irish recipes while also taking time to learn about St. Patrick. Assembling a simple Irish dinner with a quick and easy sourdough bread recipe is a wonderful way to celebrate the Irish heritage and the history of St. Patrick’s Day. You can also choose to keep it simple by pairing your sourdough soda bread recipe with some Irish butter and a cup of tea. Find out more about the amazing life of St. Patrick here.

This recipe calls for using up that leftover sourdough starter, but you can use an active starter as well.

What You’ll Need

Dry Ingredients:

4 cups of organic, unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 stick of cold grass-fed Kerrygold butter
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 egg
1 2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sourdough starter discard

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

Large Mixing Bowl
Parchment Paper
Dough Whisk or Wooden Spoon
Cast Iron Skillet, Dutch Oven, or Baking Sheet

Substitutions

Organic All-Purpose flour – fresh milled flour for whole wheat flour or organic bread flour

Buttermilk – Substitute by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of whole milk. For a vegan substitute, you can combine 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with non-dairy milk. (1 tablespoon for every cup).

Other Additions

For extra flavor and texture fold in some raisins, dried cranberries or other dried fruit, or caraway seeds. You can even sprinkle some lemon zest or orange zest inside or on top of your bread.

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Whisk your buttermilk, sourdough starter, and egg together.

buttermilk, sourdough starter, egg mixture for sourdough irish soda bread

Combine and whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add cold butter to the flour and work together with your hands or a pastry cutter.
Pour your buttermilk mixture into the center of the flour mixture and fold together until your dough comes together.

buttermilk mixture, flour mixture, and butter for Irish soda bread

Once your dough has come together (it will be slightly sticky), transfer to a lightly floured surface
Place dough ball into cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or prepared baking sheet and score the top of the dough with a deep cross or ‘”X” by using a sharp knife.