Make this easy soda bread recipe in under 30 minutes. No kneading, no proving required. Perfect for dipping with winter vegetable soups.
Updated 2026 · Post originally commissioned by Glorious – references to an old competition have been taken out.
Have you ever tried soda bread? It’s a dense wholemeal loaf that’s high on flavour and texture but low on effort.
If ever you find yourself without bread in the house this fast easy soda bread is your saviour.
As easy as mixing in one go – I used an electric stand mixer but you could just as well do it by hand – and tipping onto a sheet of greaseproof parchment paper to bake.
I have come across some easy bread recipes before but this one is fast to boot – just thirty minutes from start to finish.
And see what a super texture it has when you slice it up.
My 30 minute soda bread served with Glorious Butternut Squash Soup took me on a virtual journey to New England on the US east coast. I have long wished to visit this part of America, famous for its fall displays of red and orange foliage. Thanks to my friend Jeanne for sharing these New England photos with me to illustrate this post:
Soda bread is originally an Irish style of bread and New England, specifically Boston attracted many Irish settlers. So it makes sense to pair this New England Butternut Squash soup with an Irish soda bread.
Soda bread is wonderful thickly spread with butter although for those of you watching saturated fats and calorie intake, it’s interesting enough on its own. Especially toasted!
I’ve not yet managed to travel to New England but I knew my good friend Jeanne had so here are a couple of her pictures and you can see two of the posts she wrote about her trip at Cooksister.com here and here.
And read these recipe posts showcasing Glorious soups too:
- Garlic & Rosemary Focaccia at Hungry Healthy Happy
- Thai Spiced Eggy Dippers at Tinned Tomatoes
- Smoky Cheese, Pepper & Chipotle Mexican Quesadillas at Cooksister
- Panzanella at Fuss Free Flavours
New England photos – Image credit: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Soda Bread - 30 Minute Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk
- 15 ml lemon juice
- 170 g plain flour plus a little extra for dusting top surface
- 170 g self raising wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c / gas 6.
- Pour the lemon juice into the milk and allow to curdle.
- Sieve the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour over the liquid and mix thoroughly.
- Knead into a round and tip onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof baking paper. Dust the top surface with a little flour.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
For another hand made bread, take a look at my Spiced Chollah Bread.
Recipe commissioned by Glorious as part of their #GloriousAdventures competition campaign.
Soda bread is my favourite and it always goes so well with a hearty soup.
Hearty bread for hearty soup 😉
Soda bread can be a lifesaver, especially when you live so far from civilisation like we do! Happily Jonny has recently started making bread and he seems hooked 😀
Janie x
I love the speed you can bash it out in!
Oooh – soda bread! On my recent trip to Ireland I had rather a lot of soda bread and I am now officially in love. As you say, it’s perfect for lazy bakers like me, with no rising or kneading or any other fiddly bits 🙂 Yours looks fabulous – I can almost smell it, warm out of the oven, and I can only imagine how good it would be with soup…!
Thanks Jeanne, I have genuinely baked something for the first time that will be joining my regular repertoire! And it’s especially good toasted if you don’t eat it all straight from the oven.