Before this recipe for the “Best” Vegan Irish soda bread, I did make an earlier version. Below is my original post on Irish Soda Bread. It’s a bit of a dive into the history of this Irish staple, as well as some other delightful facts and musings. Check it out if you’d like:
WHY THE REDO?
I chose to update this recipe because:
A. I honestly prefer soda bread closest to my mom’s recipe which includes egg, butter and buttermilk. (Of course I subbed the dairy with the usual suspects…)
B. I only bake this once or twice a year so I am fine with using white flour and fat 😜. I actually LOVE white flour and fat and no, not THE healthiest ingredients, but boy they sure makes it taste good.
A FEW KEY POINTS
A. A cast iron pan really helps to make this vegan Irish soda bread crunchy on the outside with a perfectly baked moist crumb on the inside.
B. Soaking the raisins yields a moister more flavorful bread.
C. Yup, you can skip the butter (Earth Balance here) but it is pretty game-changing. Be sure to use cold vegan butter (cold butter melts in the oven, creating pockets of air and thus a fluffier bread) and rub it in to the flour quickly.
THE PROCESS
A well seasoned cast iron pan is key. I sprayed a little cooking spray on mine just in case. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, use a pie plate or a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. But also, buy a cast iron pan, because it is cheap and one of the best pans to cook with.
Prep the “buttermilk” by adding lemon juice to the oat milk and set it aside. The acid in the lemon creates a “buttermilk-like” texture in the oat milk and, in the oven, reacts with the baking soda to help the bread rise. Let your raisins soak while you gather the remaining ingredients.
In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk together. “Rub” in the vegan butter by working the butter into the flour with your hands. It should only take a few minutes to get the butter in smaller than pea-sized pieces. Once that is done, drain the raisins and dust them with remaining flour. Mix the raisins in with the flour mixture.
Finally, mix the aquafaba into the “buttermilk” and pour that liquid into the center of the flour mix. Using your hands, gently mix to form the dough. It will take less than a minute for the dough to come together.
Score and bake. I never scored my bread before and shame on me because it really allows the center of the bread to bake perfectly. (yeah, something else I learned from the GBBO) And I admit it, I likely served a lot of underbaked loaves 😳 But no more, enter the score:
Bake for about 45 minutes, cool and dig in!
An updated version of my Guinness Irish Soda Bread, this recipe is closer to my mom's recipe. She uses all white flour, an egg (I subbed aquafaba), and margarine (Earth Balance here) for the MOST delicious soda bread you've ever tasted.
- 1¼ cups raisins
- ¼-⅓ cup whiskey or Irish beer
- 1⅔ cups organic oat milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 4¼ cups organic white flour, divided 600 grams
- ¼ cup organic sugar 50 grams
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp cold Earth Balance baking stick cut in 24 cubes
- 3 tbsp chickpea brine (aquafaba)
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Preheat oven to 400°F.
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Spray 10" cast iron pan with baking spray. Alternately, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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In a small bowl combine rasisns and alcohol. Set aside.
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In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine oat milk and lemon juice and set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 4 cups of the flour and the sugar,baking soda and salt.
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Add the Smart Balance cubes to the flour mixture and rub in with your hands until all of the butter is broken down into tiny pieces, no larger than peas.
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Drain the raisins and dust with nremaining ¼ cup of flour.
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Add raisins to the flour mixture and combine well.
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Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
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Add the aquafaba to the oat milk mixture and whisk to combine.
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Pour milk mixture into the center well of the flour mixture.
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Using your hands, gently mix the dough until it comes together and no flour is visible. This should take about a minute and you should have a nice ball of dough.
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Place dough in pan or on baking sheet and score it by drawing a knife across the top.
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Bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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