Irish Soda Farls Recipe: A Traditional Irish Recipe | Retrobite Ireland (2024)

FAQs

Did Irish soda bread originate in Ireland? ›

Its origins date back to Native Americans before European colonization. Native Americans made “soda bread” using ash (a forerunner to baking soda) instead of traditional leavening agents like yeast. Soda bread was adopted in Ireland in the 1800s due to increased poverty and hunger after the potato famine.

The "griddle cakes", "griddle bread" (or soda farls in Ulster) take a more rounded shape and have a cross cut in the top to allow the bread to expand. The griddle cake or farl is a more flattened type of bread. It is cooked on a griddle, allowing it to take a more flat shape, and it is split into four sections.

Soda Farls are very easy to make. You only need 4 ingredient; flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and buttermilk. You simply combine them all together, being very cautious with your mixing and kneading – like Soda Bread, Soda Farls need a light touch.

Irish brown bread has a deep, nutty flavor because of its wheat flour and wheat bran while soda bread uses only white flour. Soda bread is slightly sweet and more scone-like while Irish brown bread is more savory with a tender interior.

Contrary to a common misconceptions, the Irish did not import the Soda Bread recipe from the American Indians. This misconception is my fault because 30+ years ago on the original site I happened to mention Native Americans using Potash to make bread.

In the past decade though, the upswing of small craft bakeries has also seen the introduction of yeast and sourdough bread from other parts of the world. Ireland is now internationally aware when it comes to bread! But even so, the bread that epitomises this nation is the simple soda bread we all love.

While soda bread is most famously attributed to Ireland, it was actually first created by Native Americans. They were the first to be documented using pearl ash, a natural form of soda formed from the ashes of wood, to leaven their bread without yeast. The Irish later discovered and replicated the process.

Potato farls originated in Ireland as a way to use leftover mashed potatoes from dinner the night before. Using leftovers makes this dish quick, easy, and delicious! Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day (or any day) with this recipe!

Buttermilk is the Secret

Irish soda bread only requires a few ingredients, including buttermilk. Buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to provide the bread's leavening. It also adds wonderful flavor!

Nutrition Notes

Whole-wheat soda bread is a healthy addition to your plate! One serving—a 1/2-inch-thick slice—provides complex carbohydrates for sustained energy, protein, fiber, and vitamins and minerals.

What is the acid in Irish soda bread? ›

The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Other ingredients can be added, such as butter, egg, raisins, or nuts, but these ingredients are not as traditional.

Adding raisins to this version of Irish soda bread adds a touch of sweetness that we've become accustomed to in the country. Some people also like to add dried currants but sometimes they're a little bit harder to come by.

Wholemeal Flour is also known as Brown Flour and is traditionally used in making Irish Soda Bread/Irish Brown Bread. Wheatmeal Flour: with a protein content of around 14%, this flour is a mixture of white flour and wheat bran.

Containing just four ingredients — all-purpose wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk — this Irish soda bread recipe is very much in line with what's eaten in Ireland. In addition to this version made with white flour, the Irish do make a whole wheat (aka wholemeal) variety as well.

Our Irish-style flour, also known as Irish wholemeal, is a US-grown, bran-flecked, soft whole wheat flour, perfect for traditional Irish baked goods (and much, much more). Similar to whole wheat pastry flour, Irish wholemeal contains all of the bran, endosperm, and germ of the wheat berry.

According to the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, the first mention of Irish soda bread comes from a London magazine referencing an Irish newspaper back in 1836. There are several different types of Irish soda bread. There's sweet. There's savory.

Irish soda bread is prepared without yeast. Traditionally it has just four ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The baking soda and buttermilk react to cause the dough to rise. In Ireland, soda bread is often made from stone-ground whole-wheat flour, though white flour versions are available.

High extraction flours produced a loaf of a dark, grey-brown colour: the 'black bread' that became common in the Irish vernacular. Crucially, close to 100 per cent extraction meant that the government was encouraging millers to create a product that contained matter the human body simply could not digest.

Bicarbonate of soda was first was introduced to Ireland around the 1840s.