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Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

March 16, 2015 By elviira 29 Comments

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Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread | Low-Carb, So Simple

This gluten-free Irish soda bread is a really healthy option for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations or whenever you happen to need an awesome carrier to butter, jam, cheese, or just enjoy delicious bread on your breakfast table. Instead of using harmful starch for replacing gluten-filled flours, this bread uses coconut flour and psyllium — fantastic and healthy low-carb alternatives to rice flour, tapioca flour and other questionable starches which too often are used for preparing gluten-free bread. Because of psyllium, just remember to drink plenty of water when eating this bread.

 


 

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Tips for making the gluten-free Irish soda bread

There are not too many phases when making this bread. Just mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients and then combine them. It might be a good idea to whisk vigorously while adding the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients to prevent lumps, but to be honest, I’ve always just tossed in the dry ingredients at once and never had any problems with lumping.

But let’s take a look how to make this beautiful bread:

Take a small bowl and add there the coconut flour…

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Coconut Flour | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

…psyllium…

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Psyllium | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

…baking soda…

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Baking Soda | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

…and the salt if you use it.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Salt | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Mix well.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Mixed | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Take a clean large bowl and add there the eggs (gee, the broken yolk looks so bad in the photo)…

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Eggs | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

…and the buttermilk.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Buttermilk | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Mix well.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Mixing | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

I prefer wire whisk — or I think this is actually called gravy whisk what I’m using. Anyway, you see the shape below.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Still Mixing | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Mix until well mixed.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Mixed, Looks Good | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Add the coconut flour mixture to the egg mixture.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Coconut Flour Mixture | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Whisk really well to break all lumps.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Whisking | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

The dough becomes thick very quickly. You can wait for 5 minutes that the dough reaches the final thickness.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Thick Dough | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Then just grab the dough with clean hands…

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Grab It | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

…and form it into a big ball.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Dough Ball | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Place the ball on a greased ovenproof plate and flatten the ball so that it’s some 1–1 1/2 inches (2.5–4 cm) thick.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Flatten | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Cut two deep crisscrossing lines through the center of the loaf with wet hands.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Crisscross Pattern | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Bake the loaf in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out dry.

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread; Ready to Oven | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

 

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

Print this recipe
Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread | Low-Carb, So Simple
elviira
March 16, 2015
by elviira

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup = 80 ml coconut flour
  • 2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 organic free-range eggs (use extra large if you can get)
  • 1/3 cup = 80 ml buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
  2. Grease an ovenproof plate with butter.
  3. Combine the coconut flour, psyllium, baking soda (and the salt if you use it) in a small bowl. Mix well.
  4. Combine the eggs and the buttermilk in a clean large bowl. Whisk well.
  5. Add the coconut flour mixture to the egg mixture. Whisk really well to break all lumps.
  6. Let the dough thicken for 5 minutes.
  7. Grab the dough with clean hands and form it into a big ball.
  8. Place the ball on the greased ovenproof plate.
  9. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out dry.

Tags

bread,
breakfast,
carbs under 5,
coconut flour
© 2025 Images, text and recipe fully copyrighted by Low-Carb, So Simple
https://www.lowcarbsosimple.com/gluten-free-irish-soda-bread/

 


 

Nutrition information Protein Fat Net carbs kcal
Entire loaf: 35.3 g 28.5 g 13.3 g 451 kcal
Per slice if 8 slices in total: 4.4 g 3.6 g 1.7 g 56 kcal

 

My gluten-free Irish soda bread experiments

It’s some years now since I wanted to try out gluten-free low-carb Irish soda bread. Well, I’ve never eaten Irish soda bread, but I have seen plenty of mainstream recipes for the bread. My dream has been to create a proper low-carb version. Not sweet, but close to the authentic one, where you use only flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Well, my low-carb gluten-free bread wouldn’t be anyway too authentic, but as close as I can get with these ingredients. In addition, I wanted to use oven, not griddle, for baking the bread.

I have seen some gluten-free Irish soda bread recipes, but unfortunately all-purpose flour was replaced with starches, like rice flour, tapioca flour and corn starch. Personally, I would never eat those starches, I once did and I simply couldn’t get rid of that sticky stuff on my teeth! Even worse, starches behave just like sugar in your body, so by all means avoid them, there is no single reason to eat starch especially when you can prepare delicious baked goods with much healthier ingredients!

I was wondering whether to use almond flour or coconut flour as base in my first gluten-free Irish soda bread experiment. Because coconut flour is more affordable, I decided to use that. In addition to coconut flour, I wanted to use psyllium to help the bread hold better together. Psyllium somehow helps in rising as well. Usually the bread or rolls (like the Rockin’ Rolls in my book Easy Everyday Recipes) rise and puff enormously when you add some psyllium to the dough.

Naturally, buttermilk was one classic ingredient I had to add to my recipe. Without that the bread wouldn’t have been able to rise that much when baking soda was used as a leavening agent. Buttermilk also brings the needed moisture for otherwise dry coconut flour and psyllium. Eggs would be also needed for binding, as eggs are more or less a must with coconut flour: without eggs coconut flour based baked goods won’t hold together. That is still something I would like to experiment more, to find alternative ingredients for eggs when using coconut flour.

This is again a great example how funny things happen. I wrote the last sentence in the previous paragraph yesterday, and today, just a couple of hours ago I met a wonderful lady who is a the first ever Certified Healing Codes Coach here in Finland. Her family is also on a gluten-free diet, but some of the family members are also allergic to eggs. I told about my gluten-free recipes and explained also about the dangers of starch, and she got enthusiastic. Now I have a very good reason to find out the best egg replacement that you can use with coconut flour, as I really would like to develop healthy and delicious bread recipes for that lady and her family.

So, now I basically knew which ingredients I wanted to use, but how about the amounts of the ingredients? If I take — let’s say 1/2 cup (120 ml) — coconut flour, how much should I use psyllium, baking soda, eggs (needed for binding) and buttermilk? I decided to go by gut feeling and chose 1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 eggs and 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk.

I combined the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, after which I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mixed everything well using a gravy whisk. Originally, I wanted to use an electric mixer, but my husband was taking a nap and I didn’t want to cause too much noise. In the end, whisking worked really well.

The dough was relatively thick. I let it stand still 5 minutes to reach the final thickness. I formed the dough into a quite round and slightly flat loaf, about 2 inches (5 cm) thick, maybe a bit less. I placed the loaf on an ovenproof plate. With wet hands, I cut two wide crisscrossing lines through the center of the loaf. Not very deep, maybe just 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) deep.

I baked the loaf in a preheated oven, at 350 °F (175 °C). After 40 minutes I was sure that the bread is done so I removed the plate from the oven. Well, the bread had got stuck to the plate. Maybe greasing the plate would help?

The bread looked pretty good, though, just a bit too crumbly on top. To my surprise the center was quite wet when I cut the loaf in half. I think I added too much buttermilk to the dough. The crumbliness in turn was result from too much coconut flour. Maybe I could have baked the bread 10 minutes longer as well?

For my next experiment I took 1/3 cup (80 ml) coconut flour, 2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 eggs and 1/3 cup (80 ml) buttermilk. I baked the bread for 50 minutes. The bread puffed and rose enormously and I couldn’t see anymore the crisscross pattern on top! The texture was perfectly soft but not too moist. Wonderful! I was really satisfied expect that vanished crisscross pattern… Maybe I simply have to cut deeper lines?

 

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread Experiments in the Oven | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

I still made another experiment where I used 1/2 cup (120 ml) coconut flour, 2 tablespoons psyllium, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 eggs and 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk. I also wanted to redo my second experiment, but now just press a deeper crisscross pattern.

Aftter all, it was difficult to decide which of the experiments was the best one. After some serious pondering I decided to go with the recipe I’ve given below. I know that it works and I’ve repeated it a couple of times.

All these experiments I made while visiting my parents, so I used my mom’s equipment and oven. In the end, I had four loaves of bread. Luckily my whole family — including my parents — loved the bread and all was gone in no time.

 

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

Tips for variation

This is a very basic gluten-free low-carb variation on Irish soda bread. If you like — and you tolerate — you can add raisins and some sweetener to the dough.

Again, I recommend to use extra large eggs if you can get those, but if you can’t, don’t worry, the bread will be great just with regular large eggs.

To reduce the carb count even more, next time I’m going to try how some thick plain Greek yogurt with added water to make it thin works instead of buttermilk.

The color of this bread is on the dark side. If you would prefer lighter color, you can try covering the bread with aluminium foil while baking.

I dried some sliced leftover bread in the oven. It made delicious crisp bread, a perfect carrier for dips and delicious spreads. (Perfect also for those late-night munchies…)

Oh yes, still another tip: if you prefer high, well-risen and puffed bread (like in the photo above where there are two loaves in the oven and the one in the back is high, round and lost the crisscross pattern), you can just omit the crisscross, i.e. just bake the flattened bread without making the crisscross pattern. The flattened bread will just rise enormously!

Have a cheerful St. Patrick’s Day! (I wish I could say something really clever in Irish here…! Since I cannot, I say it in Finnish Savo dialect which has nothing to do with Irish but sounds as peculiar: “Pitäkeepä oekeen rattoesa Pyhän Patrikin päevä”!)

 

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread | Low-Carb, So Simple

 

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Filed Under: Breads, Breakfasts Tagged With: bread, breakfast, carbs under 5, coconut flour

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mom2one

    March 17, 2020 at 22:38

    If I wanted to make this dairy free and nut free how mucg momcoconut milk and ACV should I use?

    Reply
    • elviira

      March 17, 2020 at 22:47

      I would expect 1/4 cup = 60 ml coconut milk and 1 tablespoon ACV should do the trick.

      Reply
  2. Anu

    March 18, 2019 at 00:38

    This is so lovely! I made this exactly as written but one of my extra large eggs turned out to be a double or yolk one(!) so I don’t know if that affected the texture as this didn’t rise too much. Nonetheless, it was delicious and neither coconut-ey nor eggy at all, which was a pleasant surprise! I don’t mind either, but it was nice to have something that tasted like real bread for a change Thank you so much, Elviira, I will definitely make this again.

    Reply
    • elviira

      March 18, 2019 at 06:22

      Wonderful! So great to hear you liked it 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sharon Dinur

    November 27, 2018 at 00:14

    Just tried this and was really disappointed with the results. Followed the directions except the substition of lemon juice and milk for buttermilk. Tastes nothing like bread of any sort: just has a strong egg flavour and an unpalatable texture. It didn’t rise at all either.

    Reply
    • elviira

      November 27, 2018 at 07:00

      Sorry to hear. The recipe is developed for buttermilk, not for milk and lemon juice, though.

      Reply
      • Amy S.

        March 18, 2023 at 06:48

        That’s how you make buttermilk. Milk and lemon juice or vinegar. My grandma taught me this ages ago. Now I just use heavy cream instead of milk to liwer the carbs.k

        Reply
        • elviira

          March 18, 2023 at 09:32

          Yep, that’s the traditional way to do it.

          Reply
  4. Kim

    April 30, 2017 at 16:23

    This sounds Fabulous!!! Can you make it in a loaf???

    Reply
    • elviira

      April 30, 2017 at 16:37

      Thanks, Kim! Didn’t try out, but I think it should work.

      Reply
  5. Shari

    March 15, 2017 at 16:56

    Thank you for posting this recipe! It has been my go to low carb bread for a year now. I add ground nutritional yeast to it to get some yeasty flavor that I missed from bread. I also use the whey liquid from homemade yogurt instead of the buttermilk and it works great! Always looking for ways to use the whey!

    Reply
    • elviira

      March 15, 2017 at 17:55

      Hi Shari, thank you for your comment and sharing your variations! Yes, it’s always great to find ways to use whey; good to know whey works in this recipe, too!

      Reply
  6. Vickie

    January 29, 2017 at 15:58

    So happy I found your recipe! I’ve been disappointed with other low carb breads but this Irish Soda Bread is perfect! Thanks so much!!

    Reply
    • elviira

      January 29, 2017 at 19:06

      Thank you so much, Vickie! I’m happy you like it!

      Reply
  7. Judy

    December 23, 2016 at 18:11

    I made this bread today and followed your recipe exactly with the exception of the buttermilk. I didn’t have buttermilk on hand so I used your instructions for diluting sour cream as a substitute. I flattened the dough to about an inch in thickness and it cooked in about 40 minutes. Mine turned out great with the exception of a slight bitter taste. Do you have any idea what would have caused this? I would love to make it again but the bitterness is a bit unpleasant.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • elviira

      December 23, 2016 at 18:28

      Hi Judy, thanks for trying out the recipe! I guess the best way to get rid of the bitter taste is to use unsweetened almond milk or regular milk instead of buttermilk/sour cream, and replace the soda with baking powder. The baking soda needs something acidic, and if you remove the acidic part i.e. buttermilk/sour cream, the bread won’t rise that much. So, my suggestion is almond milk + baking powder instead of buttermilk + baking soda. Btw, almond milk is naturally lower in carbs than regular milk or buttermilk. How does this option sound?

      Reply
  8. Catherine

    December 16, 2016 at 22:16

    I made this a few times and it was lovely. Have you any idea on calories per slice please ?

    Reply
    • elviira

      December 16, 2016 at 23:48

      Hi Catherine, great to hear you liked it! There are 56 kcal per slice if the bread makes 8 slices.

      Reply
  9. Maria kelly

    May 4, 2016 at 16:29

    Hi I would just like to know the carbs in this bread looks delicious thanks

    Reply
    • elviira

      May 4, 2016 at 17:38

      Hi Maria, the entire bread has 13.3 g net carbs and if you have 8 slices it makes 1.7 g net carbs per slice.

      Reply
  10. Debra

    August 19, 2015 at 18:27

    Hello. I cannot seem to find any Buttermilk in supermarkets here. Is there a substitute that I could use for Buttermilk please, thank you

    Reply
    • elviira

      August 20, 2015 at 17:32

      Hi Debra, I’m terribly sorry for not replying earlier, my blog blocked me out and I couldn’t log in for several days! Now things work, finally. Yes, you can make buttermilk substitute by using regular milk and lemon juice. Here are instructions for that: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/condimentsandspices/r/Buttermilk_Sub.htm.

      Reply
  11. Debra Waterfield

    August 17, 2015 at 21:40

    hello, I am really wanting to try this bread but I cannot find and buttermilk, is there a substiute for this that I could use, thank you

    Reply
  12. Diane Shaskin

    March 18, 2015 at 00:32

    I saw this posted on FB this morning and decided to make it right away.

    It’s absolutely gorgeous! I am very suspicious of coconut flour as it has a very strong flavour but the other ingredients tamed it.

    I will make it again. I love the fact it’s so simple to make and has so few ingredients.
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • elviira

      March 18, 2015 at 07:10

      Hi Diane, thank you for trying it out! I’m so happy to hear that you like it!

      Reply
  13. Antonia

    March 16, 2015 at 15:51

    This looks soooooo great! Being German, I love all things bread! This looks just like the real thing, fantastic! Do you think I could sub the buttermilk with almond milk and vinegar?

    Reply
    • elviira

      March 16, 2015 at 16:38

      Hallo Antonia! Ich freue mich, dass Dir das Rezept gefällt! (That’s about my German, even my son speaks better German than me… my husband is German 🙂 ) but the answer is yes (my plan has been to develop dairy-free recipe for this bread, and I would substitute the buttermilk with coconut milk and vinegar; I bet that almond milk would work as well). Please let me know how it worked out if you try it!

      Reply
      • Antonia

        April 1, 2015 at 17:09

        Hey again! Just wanted to follow up on my previous comment! First of all, I was super surprised when you replied in german! So cool haha! So I did try this with almond milk and apple cider vinegar, and it worked really well! I kind of just eyeballed it…My bread didn’t rise as much, but I think that’s because my baking soda was a little stale. The texture was still PERFECT and it tasted delicious! This will be my go-to bread from now on! I made a beautiful grilled cheese sandwich with it! Thank you so much for the awesome recipe and I hope you have a great day!

        Reply
        • elviira

          April 1, 2015 at 17:32

          Hallo Antonia! Perfect, so great to hear that the bread worked well with almond milk and ACV, and thus makes a great dairy-free option! I’m actually planning to make this bread for Easter and add some Brotgewürz (from Konzelmann, I’ve ordered that from Germany; it contains Koriander, Fenchel, Kümmel und Anis), it reminds me very much of that Easter bread that we have here in Finland during Easter. I haven’t had that bread for years, but now I’m going to make a gluten-free low-carb version!

          Reply

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Hi! I’m Elviira, Certified Keto Coach, Certified Nutritional Adviser, and Finland-based blogger. My passion is to help you with innovative gluten-free, sugar-free low-carb and keto recipes that are of high quality, simple, and super-easy to make. Forget the complex recipes with dozens of ingredients; meet the true art of easiness and simplicity!

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