Fruit Soda Bread – Deliciously golden and crusty on the outside and tender, fruity – almost scone like – in the middle. Serve it warm with a smearing of butter and a cup of tea for a happy breakfast. This Fruit Soda Bread is a no knead, no prove bread – ready in an hour.
Warm fruity bread for breakfast without having to get up at 5am to get it ready for breakfast!
This bread requires no yeast, no kneading and no proving time. You can have it out of the oven and cooling in an hour.
I’ve always loved fruit toast for breakfast, and usually buy it in for weekends if I’m not making pancakes or sweet grilled sandwiches. I’ve discovered recently just how easy it is to make though. A simple case of mixing your dry ingredients, mixing your wet ingredients, combing them together into a rough cob shape and giving it an egg wash before sticking it in the oven.
The result is a rustic looking bread like this:
It’s also great toasted the next day (and will even just about stretch to a third day, toasted).
The kids love it – they call it cake bread, and they love just ramming handfuls of the unbuttered bread in their mouths as a snack, before running back outside to play in the garden.
I’d recommend using the fattest, juiciest raisins you can find to get a nice burst of chewy stickiness with each mouthful. I’m tempted to try soaking some raisins in orange juice first on my next batch of this. I’ll update this post with the results when I do.
Fruit Soda Bread Recipe:
Fruit Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 500 g plain/all purpose flour plus a little extra for sprinkling the baking sheet
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 200 g juicy raisins or other dried fruit if you prefer
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 250 ml buttermilk
- 50 g melted butter just melted - not boiling hot - as this will scramble the eggs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175c. Take a baking sheet and sprinkle with a small handful of flour
- In a large bowl, combing the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, baking soda, raisins and salt. Give everything a mix. This is your dry mix.
- Break the eggs into a cup and whisk gently with a fork for a few seconds. Pour all but 1 tbsp. of the egg into a separate bowl. Add in the buttermilk and melted butter and mix. This is your wet mix.
- Pour your wet mix into your dry mix and stir until you get a nice sticky dough. Don't overmix or you'll end up with tough bread. If you don't mind getting a bit sticky, you can do this stage with your hands. Form the dough into a rough cob or ball shape and place on your prepared baking sheet.
- Using a sharp knife, make a large cross in the middle - cutting about 1 inch into the bread. Using a pastry brush, give the whole loaf a egg wash using the reserved egg. Place in the over and cook for 45-50 minutes until the bread looks golden.
- Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before cutting up and serving with butter, or toasting and serving with butter.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional Information
Nutritional info obtained from caloriecount.about.com – based on 14 slices
Bev D says
March 24, 2019 at 10:06 pmFabulous recipe, favourite in the house now.
Christine says
July 14, 2018 at 4:08 pmI made this with for a lazy Saturday morning breakfast and it was so easy and tasty.
nagimaehashi says
September 14, 2014 at 8:53 pmI love irish soda bread! Actually I’m sharing mine soon, but it’s the basic version. I make it a lot because it’s so easy! Yours looks very fancy and fab 🙂
Nicky Corbishley says
September 16, 2014 at 12:23 pmThanks Nagi. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for your version 🙂
[email protected] says
September 11, 2014 at 3:08 amI had no idea that you can make bread without yeast!! Genius recipe!
Nicky Corbishley says
September 11, 2014 at 11:15 amGlad you like it Ami 🙂
Oana says
September 10, 2014 at 10:12 pmNever thought about turning a soda bread into a delicious dessert. Looks amazing and such a great idea! All it needs is a cup of tea and the afternoon snack is set.
Nicky Corbishley says
September 11, 2014 at 11:15 amDessert/snack/breakfast/supper – I’ll eat it anytime 🙂
apuginthekitchen says
September 10, 2014 at 9:13 pmLove soda bread, it looks delicious.
Nicky Corbishley says
September 11, 2014 at 11:28 amThanks Suzanne, it didn’t last long…
Ahu Shahrabani says
September 10, 2014 at 11:59 amThis looks amazing! I suppose it’s the baking soda that makes it rise instead of yeast?
Nicky Corbishley says
September 11, 2014 at 11:25 amThanks Ahu. I believe it’s the soda reacting with the buttermilk that causes the rise. The soda is very alkaline whilst the buttermilk is very acidic. That’s about the limit of my scientific knowledge on the subject though 🙂