Vegan Irish Soda Bread (5 Ingredients) (2024)

4.81 from 57 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 40 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Irish

Author: Carine Claudepierre

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 3 cups All-Purpose Flour - or spelt
• ▢ ¾ cup White Wholewheat Flour - or whole spelt or more all-purpose white flour or oat flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt - optional, can be made salt free

Vegan buttermilk

• ▢ 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar - or lemon juice or any vinegar
• ▢ 1 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons Soy Milk - or oat milk or almond milk

To knead the bread

• ▢ 4-6 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

• Preheat the oven to 430°F (220°C). Line a baking tray with a lightly greased piece of parchment paper. Set aside.

• In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk soy milk with apple cider vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes until it thickens to a buttermilk-like consistency.

• In another large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, and salt.

• Make a well in the center and pour the vegan buttermilk.

• Stir the dough with a spatula at first. Then, when it becomes difficult to work the dough with the spatula, use your hands to knead the dough, adding more flour if needed to form a ball.

• Knead the dough for 1 or 2 minutes maximum until you are able to make a ball. If the dough is very sticky, simply add white flour (up to a maximum of 1/3 cup) but be careful! You don't want dry dough, or the Irish bread will be very dense and dry. A stickier dough results in moist, elastic bread, and that's what you want.

• Transfer the dough ball onto the prepared baking tray and flatten the dough into a thin disc of a maximum of 3 cm (1.5 inches) in height. This is extremely important, or the bread won't rise at all.

• Cut a deep cross (1 cm deep, 0.4 inches) on top of the bread and sprinkle/pat some extra white flour on top of the bread.

• Bake at 220°C (430°F), middle rack, for 20-30 minutes or until the outside is crusty.

• Transfer to a cooling rack for 1 hour before slicing.

• Store the bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days, wrapped into a clean towel to keep its moisture.

• Can be eaten plain or toasted with jam or mashed avocado. Or it can be served as a quick side to soup and salads.

Plant-based milk: This recipe achieves the best bread texture using regular soy milk rather than low-fat or any other plant-based milk.

White whole-wheat flour: You must use fine white whole-wheat flour, not coarse whole-wheat flour. Coarse whole-wheat will not absorb the liquid enough, and the bread dough will be very sticky. You will have to add a lot more white flour to achieve the same result.

Seeds and nuts: You can add up to 1/2 cup of seeds or chopped nuts, such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, pistachios, or almonds, to the bread dough.

Sweetbread: You can also add up to 1/3 cup of dried fruits, such as apricots, cranberries, raisins, or dates, to this bread.