Last updated on May 30th, 2018 at 02:01 pm
Skillet Irish Soda Bread – a rustic, and mildly sweet quick bread with raisins and caraway seeds that is easy and super quick to put together, then baked in a skillet.
Since St. Patrick’s day is almost upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you my favorite recipe for Irish Soda bread that’s baked in a skillet. Because I love all things made in a skillet, so why not bread. That’s just how I roll. I love my version of this Irish soda bread, it’s almost like a raisin bread because it’s slightly sweetened, loaded with raisins and caraway seeds. I like to have this bread toasted and buttered for breakfast with a good cup of coffee in the morning. That’s just how I like my soda bread.
I mean nobody ever said you have to be Irish to enjoy some of this bread, at least I don’t think they did. But here’s the truth. I make this year round for 2 reasons. For one, it’s really quick to put together, it really couldn’t get any easier to make a bread, and two, I love it, I find it way easier than making a raisin bread and I just love it for breakfast. It just dawned on me, you could even add some cinnamon in here. Hmm, definitely have to try that next time.
But how do you guys feel about caraway seeds? I love the aroma of them, and I love them in breads, especially in my cheese sticks which I make every year for Christmas, I top half of them with cheese and half with caraway seeds. Trust me the house smells heavenly as you bake these because caraway seeds are highly aromatic. Caraway seeds taste a bit like anise and they are used a lot in rye breads, so I’m sure you’ve had them before in something. I could go on and on about these seeds but I’ll stop here, all I can say is if you haven’t had them, try them.
To make this soda bread I started by mixing everything in a big bowl and then I finished kneading the dough onto a floured surface. But the secret here is to not over knead the dough. You just want to knead it until it comes all together enough to form a ball so you can place it in the skillet. Of course you don’t have to bake it in a skillet, you could use a baking pan as well. There’s nothing that smells better than the aroma of freshly baked bread, it will make you kinder to your neighbors, heck it will make your neighbors kinder to you, just open a window and you’ll see.
Here are a few of my favorite breads:
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Skillet Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar granulated
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Grease a skillet with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the caraway seeds and the raisins.
- In a smaller bowl whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon. Dust your hands with a little bit of flour and knead the dough, either in the bowl if it's large enough, or over your floured work surface. Knead it gently just until you can form a rough ball. Do not over knead the dough.
- Place the dough in the skillet and score the top in an X shape and about an inch in depth, to help cook the center.
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
This will be the third St. Patrick’s day i have made this recipe. It is requested! Its delicious and so easy! I serve it with cinnamon sugar butter.
I’m so happy you like this!! 🙂
Delicious!!This is the first time I made a soda bread and the fist time I made a bread in a dutch oven. Tomorrow I will make the crunchy bread, it is alraedy in the bowl.
Thanks for sharing your recipe! I am going to make this for a St. Patrick’s Day party and can’t wait to try it out. Question – is it possible to bake ahead time and freeze? What would be the best approach if I wanted to prep ahead?
Thank you!
Yes absolutely, you can keep it in the freezer up to 6 months. Bake away!
Came out great! Had to add about an extra 1/2 cup flour and baked for 55min. Love baking in my cast iron, thanks for the recipe.
What size cast iron pan do you us? Excited to try this 🙂
This one is a 10.25 inch skillet. 🙂
I’ve never made bread in the skillet before, sounds really interesting! I might give this a go!
I made the skillet Irish soda bread today ,turned out fantastic.
Thank you for recipe ,I have made a lot of your recipes all wonderful.
Regards Lyndi
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Thank for sharing you delightful and wonderful recipes.
My pleasure!