Irish Soda Bread from Sourdough Discard
2648kcal
Ingredients
The Dry Base & Enriched Fats
- 200 g All-purpose flour (+20-40g extra reserved exclusively to dust your work surface)
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 50 g Graham flour
- 70 g Cold unsalted butter
- 70 g White sugar
- 7 g Baking soda
- 7 g Salt
- 150 g Raisins
The Hydration Liquids
- 90 g Sourdough discard (Alternatively, substitute with 3g of dry instant yeast if discard is unavailable)
- 210 g Buttermilk
- Whole egg
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (Speeds up the initial dough enrichment, though mixing can easily be completed by hand in a bowl)
- Cheese Grater / Box Shredder (Essential for cleanly shredding the cold butter into uniform pieces)
- Sharp Scoring Lame (Or a fresh razor blade to make the traditional, deep "X" expansion cut)
Method
Dry Assembly & Butter Shredding
- Oven Calibration: Preheat your home oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a flat baking sheet cleanly with a sheet of parchment paper.
- Shredding the Fat: In your main mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), combine the 200g of all-purpose flour, 100g of whole wheat flour, and 50g of graham flour. Take your 70g of cold butter and cleanly grate it directly into the flour mixture using a box shredder. Toss the mixture gently with your fingers until the butter flakes are evenly distributed and form coarse, pea-sized pieces.
- Dry Seasoning: Add the 70g of sugar, 7g of salt, and 7g of baking soda directly to the butter-flour mixture. Stir briefly to distribute everything uniformly.
Wet Integration & Fruit Addition
- Liquid Consolidation: Pour the 90g of sourdough discard, 210g of buttermilk, and 1 whole egg directly into the bowl with your dry ingredients.
- The Mixing Phase: Turn your stand mixer onto medium speed and mix steadily for 3 to 5 minutes. The dough will look noticeably wet and kind of sticky, which is perfectly normal for a highly hydrated soda bread. Add the 150g of raisins to the bowl and continue mixing for an additional 1 to 2 minutes until the fruit is uniformly distributed throughout the sticky mass.
Bench Rounding, Scoring, and Baking
- The Flour Table Rounding: Generously dust your clean work surface with the remaining 20 to 40g of all-purpose flour. Dump the sticky dough out onto the floured area. Working gently with floured hands, gather the edges and shape the mass into a smooth, plump round boule. The dough should hold its circular shape cleanly on its own.
- The Traditional X Score: Carefully transfer the shaped round loaf onto your prepared parchment-lined baking sheet. Spray the top surface lightly with water using a spray bottle, then sprinkle a light layer of white sugar over the wet skin. Using a sharp lame or a fresh razor blade, make a deep, bold "X" cut right across the top of the loaf.
- Baking: Slide the baking sheet onto the middle rack of your preheated oven. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 50 to 60 minutes. To check for doneness, slide a toothpick cleanly into the thickest center part of the loaf; it must come out entirely clean. Transfer the baked bread to a wire rack, let it cool completely, and slice into thick wedges!
Nutrition
Calories2648kcalCarbohydrates461gProtein58gFat70gSaturated Fat41gPolyunsaturated Fat5gMonounsaturated Fat17gTrans Fat2gCholesterol184mgSodium5397mgPotassium2217mgFiber34gSugar11gVitamin A2115IUVitamin C8mgCalcium376mgIron19mg
Notes
- The Importance of Using Ice-Cold Butter: To achieve a beautifully tender, short crumb rather than a dense, rubbery structure, make sure your butter stays ice-cold right up until the moment you grate it. Shredding cold butter into the flour creates tiny, isolated pockets of fat throughout the dough. As the bread bakes, these fat pockets melt rapidly, leaving behind miniature air gaps that provide a delicate texture.
- How to Seamlessly Substitute Graham Flour: If you don't have specialized graham flour readily available in your pantry, you can easily create an excellent substitute. Simply mix equal parts of regular whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour together to recreate the coarse texture. Alternatively, you can replace the 50g of graham flour entirely with standard whole wheat flour without hurting the recipe's hydration balance.
- Why the Quick Dough Bake Requires No Proofing: Unlike traditional artisan boules that rely on active wild yeast cultures to create rise over many hours, Irish soda bread relies entirely on a chemical reaction. The lactic acid present in your fresh buttermilk reacts instantly with the 7g of baking soda to produce immediate carbon dioxide gas bubbles. Because this reaction happens quickly, you must score and bake the dough immediately after rounding to trap maximum rise.