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.

Fruit Soda Bread - a brilliantly simple breakfast bread requiring no yeast, no kneading and no proving. 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:

Fruit Soda Bread - a brilliantly simple breakfast bread requiring no yeast, no kneading and no proving. Ready in an hour!

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:

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4.84 from 6 votes

Fruit Soda Bread

By Nicky Corbishley

A brilliantly simple breakfast bread requiring no yeast, no kneading and no proving. Ready in an hour!

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 50

Total Time: 1

Servings: 14 large slices

Course: Breakfast, Snacks

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

▢ 500 g (4 cups + 2 tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour plus a little extra for sprinkling the baking sheet
▢ 100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
▢ 2 tsp baking powder
▢ 1 tsp baking soda
▢ 200 g (1 cup) juicy raisins or other dried fruit if you prefer
▢ ¼ tsp salt
▢ 2 large eggs
▢ 250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) buttermilk
▢ 50 g (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) melted butter just melted - not boiling hot - as this will scramble the eggs

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 175C/350F (fan). 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.
500 g (4 cups + 2 tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour, 100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 200 g (1 cup) juicy raisins, 1/4 tsp salt
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.
2 large eggs, 250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) buttermilk, 50 g (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) melted butter
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.