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Let this Honey Buckwheat Soda Bread ease you into the art of bread making. It’s so easy! No kneading or waiting for the bread to prove. Just mix, shape and bake! And with wholesome buckwheat flour and honey for sweetening, you’ll love the taste as well!
For more recipes with buckwheat flour, try our Buckwheat Pancakes or Buckwheat Waffles with Rhubarb Cream.
Nothing can beat homemade bread. But as much as I am a fan of yeasted breads with their chewy crust and airy interior, they are quite a bit of work and take lots of patience as they rise.
It’s why I’m so grateful for soda bread, which is quick, easy and dare I say, just as satisfying. And when baked with carefully chosen ingredients could be especially nourishing.
It’s a bread recipe that is worth having in your repertoire for those moments when only a homemade loaf will do, but time is not on your side!
What is soda bread and where is it from?
Now let’s talk about this bread. Although most closely associated with Ireland, it actually comes from America, as early settlers learned to keep baking bread despite a shortage of yeast. From there it made it back to Ireland, finding it’s final form and much fandom.
Traditionally Irish soda bread is made with wholemeal flour. It’s soft and crumbly in texture as opposed to its brother yeasted bread, which is light and airy.
There is no need for yeast here. The baking soda does the job of adding an airy lift to the loaf.
It also always has a cross cut into the top of the dough. Although there are religious stories about this approach, it actually has a practical purpose in allowing the dough to rise properly.
Is soda bread difficult to make?
This bread is definitely in competition for the world’s easiest loaf! Just mix all ingredients, form a rough loaf, after all it is half of the appeal, score a cross on top with a This is an affiliate link.sharp knife, pop in the oven. Just 45 minutes later, you can enjoy it with butter, honey or whatever you love most.
I chose to use buckwheat flour as I love the nutty taste it comes with. This wholemeal flour gives the bread a lot of character. It is naturally gluten free and soda breads are usually made with low gluten flours, so mixing the two makes sense.
The addition of honey instead of sugar scents the entire loaf, which in combination with the smell of buckwheat, makes it irresistible.
The best part is you don’t have to run to specialty shops. I found all these items at my local supermarket.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- You can also make soda bread using 100% buckwheat flour, making this loaf gluten free.
- This bread dough doesn’t require a lot of kneading, but some is important. This is the time to gauge whether the consistency is right. Add a bit of flour if it is too loose, and buttermilk if it’s too dry.
- It’s important to cut a cross into the top of the dough before adding to the oven. Not only does this give the traditional look to the loaf, it allows it to rise properly as it bakes.
Serving suggestions
This soda bread is equally tasty with butter and jam as it is spread with a little bit of soft goat cheese or cream cheese, but my son’s favourite is maple peanut butter and blackcurrant jam!
Or to make it even more friendly, try with my version of homemade nutella!
Storage and Leftovers
Soda bread is best enjoyed on the day it’s been baked. I don’t find that it stores very well, so only make it when I’m sure it’ll be eaten.
But if you do need to keep it longer, keep it at room temperature and put away in a breadbox, airtight container or plastic wrap so it doesn’t lose moisture. It can last up to 3 days.
If you are enjoying after the first day, toasting soda bread will produce the best results.
It can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Just let it cool and seal it in plastic wrap or a bag.
More bread recipes
Honey Buckwheat Soda Bread with Sea Salt
Ingredients
- 275g / 2½ cups bread flour
- 200g / 1⅔ cups wholemeal buckwheat flour
- 350ml / 1½ cup buttermilk
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 egg, large
- 1 tsp runny honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sea salt, to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/375F.
- Combine both flours, baking soda, salt in a mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl whisk buttermilk with the egg and honey.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and then pour in the wet mixture. Start mixing with a wooden spoon until comes together. Alternatively you can mix it in a stand mixer.
- Turn out the dough on a flour surface and gently knead until smooth. It shouldn’t take longer than 20-30 seconds. Add a little extra flour if you find the dough is too wet and sticky or a bit more buttermilk if it’s too dry.
- Shape into a ball and put on a floured baking sheet. Sprinkle with more flour and score a cross on it and top with flaky sea salt such as Maldon or your favourite.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until the bread sounds hollow if you tap on it.
Video
Notes
- To make this loaf gluten free, use only buckwheat flour.
- The kneading step is the best time to adjust the consistency of the dough if needed. Add a little flour if it is too loose and buttermilk if it feels too dry.
- Cutting a cross into the top of the dough before baking is important to ensure that the loaf rises properly while baking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I don’t need to follow a gluten free diet, but I have substituted cereal with buckwheat grains in the morning and wanted to add it in bread as well. Buckwheat is proven to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and does not affect your blood glucose level, so you want feel hungry an hour after you have consumed it.
how can I make this gluten free? I need a decent bread for this paleo diet I am on. Not a fan of almond flour maybe coconut or cassava.
Thanks
Buckwheat flour is gluten free, so I would suggest using 100% buckwheat flour in this recipe.
Hi can I use this same recipe in a bread maker machine
This recipe is not suitable for a bread maker as it is not a yeasted bread, Tina.
Made this recipe with 100% buckwheat flour and milk instead of buttermilk. I had to add more flour at the end but the result was fantastic! The beat gluten free bread i have ever tried
I am so glad to hear that even with 100% buckwheat flour this soda bread still turns out well. Thank you for letting me know, Maria!
thank you thats what I wanted to know
Hi, not a success for me I’m afraid, 475g flour to 350ml liquid seems wrong. It was more like a batter than a dough. I needed to add a lot more flour.
Hi Ian, quite a few people made this recipe using this exact proportion with no issues as you can see from the comments. Did you use buttermilk for your liquid as it’s much thicker than regular milk?
I’ve made this twice now, the first time it was raw in the middle (but we saved it by making bruschetta)…and I’ve just made it for the second time but had to cook it for 1.5 hours at gas mark 5 (loosely covered with foil once brown enough on the outside). It’s turned out lovely. I also used oat milk as this is all I had. Yum. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Cheryl, I am so glad you enjoyed this bread recipe. The first time I baked it the middle didn’t cook all the way through, so I tested it again and again. What I came to is soda bread needs to be scored deeper than usual to allow it to cook evenly. I think buckwheat flour plays a part in it too as it’s quite gummy. In the video attached to this recipe you can see how deeply it’s scored. I hope this helps!! 🙂
What can I use instead of buttermilk. Could I use coconut Jon dairy milk?
I am sorry I have no experience with that product, Wendy.
Hi Wendy, I use soya milk with the juice of 1 lemon to make an alternative to dairy buttermilk. I think you can use any plant milk . Hope this helps 🙂
Just make Buttermilk from plant milk. Lots of recipes for doing that on web.
Hi Julia,
I made soda bread recently for my partner but due to allergies my daughter and I can only eat buckwheat flour at the moment so I’m very excited about this version. We can’t have eggs / milk and I was wondering if fruit puree and oil/ water might work?
I’ve made buckwheat bread with just ground groats and water ( soaked , ground and left to “rise” in the oven all day before cooking – It’s a little sourdough like ), crazy cupcakes with buckwheat flour and flour and water pancakes but I am keen to branch out.
This also looks wonderfully quick ! Our daughter is nearly 1 so quick is good 🙂
And I forgot to add – thank you for your site and recipes I’m really enjoying reading them.
Hi Deborah, I can’t be sure about substituting the egg without testing it but you should definitely experiment and let me know! Thank you for reading, it’s so great to hear you are enjoying my website!
Hi Julia
I’ve just made your buckwheat and honey soda bread.
I used only buckwheat flour. It was a bit crusty on top, but once you get past that and get use to the taste. I found it ok. I can’t stand the gluten free bread that you buy in the supermarket.
I was very happy with the outcome of your recipe today.
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Yvonne! Yes, buckwheat flour taste is definitely something that takes getting used to and that is why I mixed it with the wheat flour. Of course, I understand it’s not possible to do if you follow the gluten-free diet.
I was just gifted some buckwheat and rye flours. I want to try this bread with the buckwheat but have a question. What is very strong Canadian bread flour compared to? Should I use stone ground whole wheat or do I need to use a bread flour (white)? This looks amazing!
Strong Canadian bread flour is simply white bread flour of high quality. You can use whole wheat or white flour for this recipe, Suzanne.
I used all buckwheat but substituted 60 g almond flour, and one Tbsp rice bran. It’s definitely buckwheat-ey.. so you would have to like that flavor. But honestly once you’re past the first bite and it’s topped with plenty of butter, jam and another sprinkle of salt, this does not disappoint!
You are right about the buckwheat flavour, Jessica. Have you baked with light buckwheat flour or regular? I find that light buckwheat flour has a less pronounced taste, so I prefer it!
Found this last week on pinterest, just had to try today. Being gluten free I replaced bread flour with gluten free bread flour, and added a little more buttermilk. Delicious, will certainly make again.
Excellent, thank you for sharing this with me, Caron!
I’m a bread-a-holic and this recipe looks perfect! 🙂
Thank you so much, Laura! I love baking with buckwheat flour!
Hi Vika. As I was looking into making this I googled conversions and they didn’t match yours. What am I doing wrong? They were very off, not just a smidge.
I wouldn’t worry about online conversions, Nadia. They are very inaccurate. You have to actually measure yourself to be sure. I am a Canadian living in the UK, so I am comfortable with both metric and imperial systems. I can assure you, these measurements are correct. By the way, my name is actually Julia, not Vika. 🙂
I just made it, & it came out really good.
I did make a few changes.
Where you had bread flour, which is high-gluten. I swapped in spelt flour, also high-gluten. I really like the taste & crumb of using the buckwheat & spelt together!
I also used closer to 2T buckwheat honey, and I cooled it w/ about 1 T of fresh rosemary, which was left over & starting to dry out in my fridge, finely minced, plus 1T of rum.
thanks for the recipe!
I love the addition of spelt flour, Jim. It’s a regular in our house as well. I love baking yeasted breads with it. I also love buckwheat honey but it’s not too easy to find! Where do you buy yours?
Can you substitute agava for the honey?
You sure can, Donald. Agave can definitely sweeten this bread but unfortunately it won’t give it the same aroma that honey does.
Since right now I am having allergic issues with wheat ..can I substitute the wheat flour for oat flour?? Thanks
I haven’t tried but it’s definitely worth experimenting with!
Made this recipe last night. It was DELISH! I only used half the buttermilk, but there you have it. It popped it in the oven on a cookie sheet as a round loaf with a criss cross hatch , did 450 w/ parchment for 10m., then lowered to 390 for 15-20. Perfect little loaf for my batch of Irish stew. My husband loved it, as did I. Thank you for posting!
Perfect! So happy you enjoyed it!
The bread looks absolutely delicious! Would the recipe work with buckwheat flour only? Many thanks!
Thank you, Iana! I haven’t tried, so I can’t be sure but I think it might work if you split the dough into halves and bake two smaller loaves instead to insure baking all the way through. Do let me know if you go ahead with it. 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
My boyfriend and I are on a yeast-free diet and we’ve been looking for the perfect bread for months. But I think that our search is finally over 🙂
Thank you!
And greetings from Croatia!
Great! I don’t eat grains at all and found your site from my search for a recipe using only buckwheat flour (as it’s a pseudo-cereal not a grain). So I’ve followed your recipe but not used any wheat flour at all. It has made my day! I’ve not been able to eat any bread since going grain-free, and I was so happy to find a way I could eat soda bread again. My aunt is irish and showed me the family recipe for soda bread which I’ve been missing making, her version is with wheat flour and differs a little from this. Yours works perfectly, thanks so much for sharing.
I was so happy to read your comment, Tam! I am happy I could help you to rediscover bread! 🙂 Buckwheat flour is wonderful and I use it a lot in my baking. There are more recipes my blog with buckwheat flour for cakes and waffles as well as savoury buckwheat groats, just enter “buckwheat” in the search bar.
Did you sub the flour for more buckwheat flour or just simply leave it out? Thanks!
You will have to use more buckwheat flour to make up for missing wholewheat flour, Jen. Otherwise the dough will be too wet.
This is so pretty!! I really need to get into bread baking. My mama used to make bread from scratch so I have no good reason that I shouldn’t either. He he. I love that this one has no yeast! Yeast intimidates me.
Yeast used to intimidate me as well but I can’t stand being pulled back by something so I pushed myself to get over it. lol Also, I think it’s so much easier to make good bread nowadays with all wonderful machines we have access to. They practically do all the kneading for us. This loaf though is SO EASY and yum!
I would LOVE a giant hunk of this bread with butter right now!
There is just something about a freshly baked bread that is so irresistible! Thanks, Marla!
Beautiful photos! I love honey-flavoured breads, so this sounds brilliant. Also, I’m with your son – peanut butter and blackcurrant jam for the win!
Blackcurrant jam is my absolute favourite! I think it reminds me of my grandma and her wonderful jams from the childhood.
Another bread recipe for me to indulge in? Don’t mind if I do! This looks incredible.
Thank you, Sammi and this loaf is pretty healthy, it’s got buckwheat flour, that’s my rationale anyway.
What a gorgeous loaf, I love the sea salt topping!
Thank you, Laura! I love the look of it too…like little snow flakes!
Beautiful pictures! Your blog is so inspiring in every way! Thanks for sharing your recipes and pictures!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Oanaa and for visiting Vikalinka!
Beautiful! That is a perfect loaf. Would love this with a stew (or just warm with butter).
Oh yes, I would gladly eat it with one of your soups, Jennifer! I am making your pork chop recipe tonight and can’t wait!
Thank goodness we have baking for all those moments of panic! I love the look of this bread – a slice is begging to be slathered in salted butter! Beautiful photos – especially that last one – just perfect.
I know, right! Sometimes you just have to leave things behind and get your hands covered in flour up to your elbows! 🙂
Could I substitute the whole wheat flour with a standard cup for cup of gluten free flour?
Hi Janelle, I haven’t tried but some of my readers have…you should be able to.