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Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread

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Easy to make, hearty and flavorful gluten-free Irish Soda Bread that goes great alongside any meal. We enjoy it around St. Patrick’s Day and throughout the year!Loaf of Gluten-free Irish Soda BreadI think I only had Irish Soda bread once or twice before going gluten-free. Since mastering this recipe, I’ve had several times in the past year! If you are looking for an easy to make, yeast-free bread that is great to serve with soup, gluten-free chili, gluten-free beef stew, or any hearty main dish, this gluten-free Irish Soda Bread would be a great choice!

A few years ago I made three Irish Soda Bread recipes to bring to a potluck. Everyone tried them and gave me feedback and this one was the clear winner. I’ve made it with the currants and without – it is great both ways. I preferred using currants over raisins, since they are smaller, but you could also use raisins. I’ve got texture issues with raisins!

Loaf of the Best Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread

Our small group from church has a potluck dinner each year near St. Patrick’s Day. I was asked to bring this gluten-free Irish Soda bread again this year, and thankfully I made two loaves, because it all got eaten! A couple of the other people in the group are wheat-free, but the rest are all “regular” eaters and all loved the bread. You definitely won’t miss the gluten in this!

We really enjoyed this served with butter or honey butter too. YUM!

Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread sliced

Notes on ingredients for this Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread:

  • Flour: I’ve tested this with three different gluten-free flour blends with great success. Maninis Multi-Purpose Flour Blend, available at your local store or from Amazon, Gluten Free Mama’s all-purpose almond flour blend available from Amazon, and recently I tested it as well with gfJules all-purpose gluten-free flour with success too!  While the dough with gfJules was a little stickier to work with, I honestly couldn’t tell any taste or texture difference in the two baked loaves. I can definitely recommend you use whichever flour blend you have access to or want to order. I highly suspect that other good quality gluten-free flour blends will work well in this recipe as well. I just wanted to specifically mention the ones I’ve tested it with so far. I simply cannot test every blend available, but please do try with your favorite blend and comment to let others know!
  • Raisins or Currants: You can use raisins or currants. I opted to use Zante currants. They are made from tiny grapes and I’ve found that while I dislike raisins, I do like Zante currants. Why? They are so small that they add just a bit of flavor without a weird mushy texture that you can get from raisins. They can sometimes be found in a box near the raisins and dried cranberries at your local store, though I admit I had to go to 2 stores before I could find them here locally! You can also order online – I get them here at nuts.com now. Note that Zante currants are not actually currants, which is why I specified what they are called.
  • Buttermilk: Buttermilk in the U.S. is gluten-free. If you don’t wish to buy buttermilk, you can make your own buttermilk at home. 

I recommend baking your loaf on a cookie sheet with a sheet or parchment paper on it. If you don’t use parchment paper yet when you bake, I highly recommend it! With most recipes, it saves you from having to grease any pans at all, plus no cleaning up! You can buy these pre-cut parchment paper sheets from Amazon.

Sliced Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread

I’ll be making it again for St. Patrick’s Day. It would be great served with Corned Beef and Cabbage if you’ve got that on the menu. It would also go great alongside this Cauliflower Shepherd’s Pie. Honestly, I haven’t even planned the rest of my St. Patrick’s Day menu, but I do know I’ll be making this bread again!

Loaf of Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread with Currants

What are some other yeast-free breads I recommend you make soon? I’m glad you asked! 😉 I make these gluten-free buttermilk biscuits to have with breakfast or dinner and love them! I’m thinking about these gluten-free bagels that would be great for making sandwiches for lunch. 

If you try this, I’d love to hear what flour blend you used successfully and what you served your delicious loaf with! Enjoy!

Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread Recipe:

Yield: 10 servings

Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread

Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread

This slightly sweet loaf of gluten-free Irish Soda Bread is easy to make!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Additional Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (375g) good quality all-purpose gluten-free flour blend*
  • 1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick =8 Tbsp.) cold, unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup currants or raisins
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg, room temperature

For brushing on loaf:

  • 1 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 Tbsp. buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum (if needed), sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until pea-sized crumbs.
  4. Stir in the currants.
  5. In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk and egg then add to the flour/butter mixture.
  6. Start with a spatula to gently stir, then switch to using your hands to mix the batter together to form a wet dough that you can form into a ball.
  7. Dough will be quite sticky, but you should be able to form into a ball shape and place on the parchment paper lined baking pan.
  8. In a separate bowl, combine 1 Tbsp. melted butter and 1 Tbsp. buttermilk. Using a pastry brush, brush the whole loaf with the butter/buttermilk mixture.
  9. Use a knife to cut an X shape in the top of the loaf.
  10. Bake at 375° for about 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown and no wet batter visible in the slit.
  11. Let cool on pan for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. No need to serve this hot, it tastes great and cuts better when cooled off!

Notes

Recipe tested successfully with Maninis Multi-Purpose Flour Blend, and gfJules flour blend. I recommend either one and link to where to buy in the recipe post.

Recipe slightly adapted from Maninis Gluten Free blog.

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© Michelle ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen
Cuisine: American / Category: Muffins & Quick Breads
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Best Gluten-free Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Pics and a bit of text updated March 2019. 
Old pic:

Irish Soda Bread made gluten-free! Even the gluten-eaters came back for seconds and thirds of this bread!

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Gluten-free Cherry Coffee Cake (dairy-free)
Gluten-free Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Thanks for sharing!

Comments

  5. I made this bread for St. Patrick’s Day and it was amazing! I too am not a fan of raisins so I left them out. This bread was so moist and so easy to make! I will be making this all the time now. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  7. Best soda bread I’ve ever made or eaten!! I bake a lot and have tried many recipes, but none – ever – as good as this! The bread is moist and so flavorful! We couldn’t stop eating it! This will be my go-to recipe from now on!

    Reply

  8. Usually when I bake GF items I need to tweak the recipe 2 or 3 times. This was absolutely perfect the first time! I used King Arthur Flour. I was a bit nervous because it was only slightly sticky. The dough held its shape beautifully while baking. The only change I made was adding Carraway seeds.

    Reply

  9. This is a fantastic recipe. I used Juvela Fibre Mix available here in the UK and it turned out perfectly, slightly sticky but held its shape no problem. I left out the currants an used 1/4 of the sugar as was after a more savoury bread.

    Reply

  11. I used king Arthur flour cup for cup. This recipe was easy to make and the taste was even better. I used regular raisens…..the smell while it was baking was oh, so good.

    Reply

  13. I’m going in…lol
    This is my 1st attempt to make a GF Irish Soda Bread. I looked through many recipes and yours sounds the best…and easy, like my original recipe. Giving it a 5 star rating for the detailed instructions.
    I will post again after tasting…
    Until then…
    Happy St. Paddy’s day to all…

    Reply

    • Sari here…I know its a no-no but I had to take a lick off my doughy fingers….
      OMG…AWESOME !!!
      Its in the oven now…
      mmmmmmm …the smell is tantalizing…
      1 more update to follow…

      Reply

      • Taste test done…It is awesome…Did a little tweaking with the sugar ( raw ) and added a 1/4 tsp of ceylon cinnamon. with the raisins it rocked. I also did a shortcut with the buttermilk.There is a company that sells cultured powdered buttermilk blend, all natural. Just add water and walla…Buttermilk. I think its on the pricey side but for once a year its fine by me.
        Thank you so much again for having the best and easy GF Irish Soda Bread recipe.
        It is now my” go to” along with other GF …
        Happy Irish Day…

        Reply

  14. I’d like to personally endorse this recipe. Excellent. The cold butter strudel type process makes this bread nice and flaky, much like the real thing. I use organic coconut sugar and may use less of it next time. I also used the broiler at the end for just a few minutes, like 3, to make it perfectly golden brown. We had it with Irish salmon pate on it as an hordeurve. Wow. Great texture and palatability with this simple bread.
    Don’t cut the cross too deep or it will break into four pieces as you pull it out if the over.
    Again, great bread recipe!

    Reply

  15. I used Robin Hood gf flour blend and found it hard to make into a ball, it was so dry. Tasted wonderful but didn’t look so great! Will try other flour next time!

    Reply

  16. I made this with King Arthur gluten free flour blend, omitted the xanthan gum, substituted maple syrup for sugar, and cranberries instead of currants. It was FANTASTIC! We even had an Irish friend over who was impressed 🙂

    Reply

  20. I used the gluten free cup4cup multipurpose flour and excluded the xantham gum. Turned out fabulous! Great recipe!

    Reply

  21. I tried this with Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 and really like how it came out!! This will be my go to from now on. Mine was a little dry but I’m over 7000 feet here in Colorado so I added a few more splashes of buttermilk to get it together. Thank you!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  22. I used Namaste GF perfect flour blend. The bread came out SO dry and even though I only baked it for 50 minutes, it was definitely overbaked. Dont know if its this flour (although I use it for all my other baking successfully) or my oven. If I try this recipe again, I will have to add more buttermilk and reduce ccoking time.

    3.0 rating

    Reply

  23. I used Premier Gold Ancient Grains 1-1 GF flour and added about 1/8 tsp Cardamom, based on another recipe. So good! (Could have added more Cardamom) Bked on parchment paper on a bread stone.

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  24. Thanks for this. For me, this is like a big “scone”. “Irish Scone Loaf” ma be more accurate. Which is fine, and the recipe was tasty – but not the same consistency/flavor of a quick bread, or traditional soda bread that does not have the amount of butter this does.

    4.0 rating

    Reply

  25. Thank you! This is a keeper. I have not made soda bread since I had to go gluten free.
    It is so good! I added some orange zest and was running out of sugar(of all things) so put a little honey in place of half the sugar.
    I also just put 1 tsp of baking powder instead of a tablespoon, it just didn’t seem right? Anyway it turned out great!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  26. Really superb soda bread. I couldn’t wait, ate it while still warm so the inside was just a little doughy but still cooked through. I used what I had on hand – about a cup of Cup4Cup and 2 of Pillsbury Best GF All Purpose Flour Blend. Substituted dried chopped cranberries for the currants because we’re in the middle of a winter storm and I can’t get to the store, and also sprinkled a little demarara sugar on top for crunch. This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

      • The recipe for the above sounds great for Gluten Free don’t like the idea of incorporating fruit into a bread to eat with meat/chicken or other. Carraway seeds sound great. I am hoping my granddaughter; a gluten free person likes caraway seed. After all its early days into her diagnosis’s and we are attempting to transpose a diet that all in the family can eat rather than making different meals for one person.
        Any hints out there????

        Reply

  29. This is it! I’m done searching for the perfect Irish Soda Bread recipes because this one is perfection! My picky, non gluten free husband loves it and he rarely likes gluten free baked goods! All I can say is make it and see for yourself!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  30. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour – results were superb – we all enjoyed it – my grand daughter never got to taste soda bread since she has been celiac most of her life – it was a real treat for her – thank you for this recipe!

    Reply

  31. My family said this was the best Irish Soda bread period – gluten free or not! Beautiful and delicious! I used corn starch instead of xanthan gum but then realized my gf flour has xanthan gum added.

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  33. Made this 45 minutes ago. Fabulous. Maybe even fail-proof! I had to use 1-1 gf flour, regular bread flour, and almond flour to get 3 cups from my pantry. Xanthan, flax seed egg, coconut oil. Cut my “X” a little deep so I almost had 4 mini loafs. Great bread! A real “keeper”.

    Reply

  34. AS a Grandma I am searching for interesting, tasty recipes for my granddaughter recently diagnosed as “gluten free intolerant” she loves food however as a family we are attempting to search for meals with the help
    of others to find recipes for all members of the family to eat and more importantly enjoy rather that tolerate”
    Such as gluten free pasta – an ingredient we find not so digestible.
    Any helpers in accessing an ingredient better than we have assesed in Australia????

    Reply

  35. I made this for the first time last night, using sliced kalamata olives instead of currants. I used my home-made GF flour mix (America’s Test Kitchen recipe). Maybe I made the loaf too thick and the cuts too deep but it wasn’t done in the middle at 55 minutes. I left for another 5 minutes and the middle was done but the bottom almost burnt. When cutting the loaf it falls apart. It does seem more like a scone to us and I think I’d leave out the sugar next time since the brown rice flour in my flour blend is already a bit sweet. I used kefir instead of buttermilk,.
    Any suggestions?

    Reply

  36. I make this for stone soup every sunday with my little boys. It’s just as good as the wheat one I remember. I have used coconut sugar with great success. I always use King arthurs all purpose gluten free flour mix. it has x gum in it already. Thanks for this awesome recipe!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

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