Dutch Oven Irish Soda Bread Recipe with Cherries

Irish Soda Bread is loaded with sweet cherries. It is soft and tender and slightly sweet. With only 6 ingredients, it’s quick and easy to make.

Dutch Oven Irish Soda Bread with cherries is a quick and easy soda bread to make.

It’s delicious as is but the cherries add just a little bit of sweetness.

This is a very basic soda bread recipe. You can mix in a variety of ingredients to make it your own.

I first made Irish Soda Bread with Raisins as a surprise for my 92-year-old Irish mother-in-law. I couldn’t believe how quick and easy that bread came together!

She and I love family history. She’s shared some great recipes with me like this Raspberry Linzer Torte recipe. It was her mother-in-law’s recipe. That’s an old recipe!

The History of Soda Bread

What I’ve learned about this bread makes a lot of sense in regard to her heritage.

It’s said that this bread didn’t actually originate in Ireland. The American Indians made bread using pearl ash a natural form of soda created from the ashes of wood before the existence of baking soda.

Once baking soda was introduced, Soda Bread recipes were created in Ireland, around 1830. It became a staple in Ireland when their people suffered financial difficulty.

This bread has few ingredients and could be cooked without ovens.

Traditional Soda Bread Ingredients

Traditional ingredients for this bread – flour, baking soda, salt and “sour milk” (buttermilk).

The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda so you don’t need to use yeast in this bread.

Why is there a cross on top?

Scoring yeast bread keeps it from “blowing out”. The cross on this bread isn’t a score. I learned that it’s partly due to superstitious reasons.

Families believed if they cut a cross on the top of the bread that it would ward off evil and protect the household.

John isn’t crazy about raisins but loves cherries so I made up a loaf. I let it brown just a little too much. The cherries were a little (a lot) dry and crispy.

I decided to try baking it in my dutch oven the way I do my Overnight Sourdough Bread.

I removed the lid when 10 minutes of baking was left so it would brown. The bread browned nicely with the lid on so I covered it back up to finish baking. We loved the way it came out.

Tips for the perfect soda bread

• When an instant-read thermometer reads 210° the bread is done.
• Eat Soda bread the day you make it or freeze what you don’t plan on eating within a couple of days. I wrap it in plastic or use a zip lock bag and then wrap it again in foil. Use a marker to label and date it.
• Add the cherries before the bread comes together. This is a strong dough so adding it after the loaf comes together will make it difficult to incorporate them.
• Leftover bread makes amazing french toast!

We LOVE baking bread! You can find all of our bread recipes here!

You may need

• Instant-Read Thermometer – I use this thermometer for perfectly cooked recipes.
• Lodge Cast Iron Enamel Dutch Oven – I’ve got dutch ovens that cost triple what this one does and it’s my favorite! It’s perfect for my bread, a stove-top sauce or oven-baked casserole.

If you enjoy this recipe here are a few more you may like

• Easy Irish Soda Bread with Raisins -[Buttermilk Recipe]
• Hot Cross Buns Recipe – Easter Bread
• Potato Rolls – Easy Homemade Recipe
• Country Captain Chicken Recipe
• Cherry Quick Bread – Baked From Scratch
• Waterford Blaa – Irish Bread Rolls
• Molasses Brown Bread Rolls

Don’t forget to stop back and let me know how your dutch oven Irish Soda bread came out.

Dutch Oven Irish Soda Bread with Cherries

Author: Hostess At Heart

This Super Easy Irish Soda Bread recipe is a tasty quick bread that can be baked in any kitchen.

4.91 from 10 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Bread

Cuisine American, Irish

Keyword: Irish Soda Bread with Cherries

Servings: 20 servings

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 2-1/2 cups buttermilk **
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups dried cherries

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Combine all of the dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk. Mix with a wooden spoon until flour is incorporated. Knead a few times by hand if necessary.
• Add the cherries and knead to combine. Form a ball from the dough.
• Put a piece of parchment paper on your work surface and turn out the dough. Shape the dough into a 2" thick round loaf. Cut a 1-inch cross through the top of the bread with a sharp or serrated knife.
• Pick up the dough by grabbing the edges of the parchment paper and put the loaf into a 5-qt dutch oven. Cover the bread with the lid and bake for up to 55 minutes or when the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210° when tested with an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center. *The bread will sound hollow when tapped.
• Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Wrap in an air-tight to store.

Notes

This bread can also be baked on a baking sheet. If it starts to brown to much before it’s finished baking, cover it with a piece of foil.

The bread may sound hollow when tapped before it’s completely baked. I recommend using an instant-read thermometer and baking to an internal temperature of 210° F.

Nutrition

Calories: 177kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 5gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 257mgPotassium: 86mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 450IUCalcium: 33mgIron: 1.8mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!