Learn Together

Irish Soda Bread is a popular treat around the world eaten to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but it originally came from Ireland just a few hundred years ago!

Introducing young children to a variety of foods from around the world helps expand their taste, curiosity, and understanding and appreciation of other cultures and traditions.

Learn more about this traditional Irish dish at The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.

Materials

  • Large bowl
  • Mixing spoon
  • Baking pan or tin
  • 2 ½ cups flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup raisins
  • 1 ¼ cup oat milk (to replace buttermilk) OR 1 tablespoon lemon juice (to replace sour milk)
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)

Make Together

While many of us have eaten Irish Soda Bread as a treat or as dessert, families in Ireland used to eat it as their main meal!

Surprise Science Experiment! It’s called Soda Bread because of the chemical reaction created between the baking soda and the acid in the lemon juice and oatmilk!

  1. First create your own buttermilk or sour milk. Soak the raisins in either oat milk (buttermilk) or lemon juice (sour milk). This will help add moisture to the bread.
  2. Prepare the chia seeds by mixing them with water to gel.
  3. To make the dough, measure the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon (optional), salt) and add them to a large bowl.
  4. Then add your wet ingredients, the raisin mixture and chia seeds.
  5. Use your hands to mix all of your ingredients in the bowl. Keep kneading the mixture until it becomes dough-like. Be sure not to overwork the dough, it does not need to look completely smooth.
  6. Take a look at how the texture changes when we mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones. What do you think happens there?
  7. Not all Irish Soda Bread looks the same. In some parts of Ireland, they bake their bread in a circle with a cross on top. In other parts of Ireland, they make smaller breads in triangle shapes! Think about what special shapes you might like to create when you bake your Irish Soda Bread.
  8. When you’re ready to bake, place your bread dough in a greased pan. Cut an “X” into the center, then bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees.
  9. Enjoy Irish Soda Bread warm and spread with butter!
  10. If you had a dish that represented your household, what would it be?
  11. Is it your favorite meal or is it a snack?