This Vegan Blackberry and Cheese Soda Bread is the perfect mix of sweet and savoury in a tender loaf. It can be ready to eat in just an hour thanks to the quick and easy method. Get the recipe below.
What is soda bread?
Soda bread is a traditional Irish bread. It became popular (particularly during the Irish Potato Famine) as it doesn't require too many ingredients and doesn't rely on yeast to rise.
Soda bread became incredibly common during the Irish Potato Famine, as you can make it with only four ingredients: flour, salt, an acid, and bicarbonate of soda.
What are the key ingredients for this Vegan Blackberry and Cheese Soda Bread?
The basic dough for soda bread is made from flour, salt, acid (like the lemon in our "buttermilk") and bicarbonate of soda. More on how to make vegan buttermilk below.
To make this Vegan Blackberry and Cheese soda bread there are a couple of extra ingredients for flavour and texture. They are:
- Blackberries
- Vegan cheddar cheese
- Oats
I love the flavour of the tangy cheese with the sweet blackberries. It's the perfect combination.
The oats are a great way of stopping the bread from sticking to your baking sheet but also give some extra crunch when added to the top.
How to make vegan buttermilk
Traditionally the dough for an Irish soda bread is brought together with buttermilk. The buttermilk you buy in the dairy aisle of a supermarket is milk that has been soured and thickened (rather than actually the liquid that is leftover from making butter).
The good news is that you can make the equivalent vegan buttermilk by adding an acid (like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar) to plant milk. Leave it to rest and you'll see it start to curdle and thicken, just like buttermilk. When using this method I find soy milk work best.
For more information about making vegan substitutes when baking, check out my big vegan baking guide.
Tips for making vegan soda bread
Mixing the dough
The chemical reaction that causes it to rise happens so quickly that you don’t want to hang about. Once you’ve mixed your ingredients together, shape your loaf and get it in the oven as soon as possible.
You also don't want to over mix or this will make the bread dense.
Handling the dough
The dough will be quite crumbly to begin with. That's to be expected. Bring it together gently and it will come together. Trust the process!
Baking the bread
The trick to an even bake is baking it in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes then turning the bread upside down and baking for another 10 minutes.
It might sound a little odd but it works.
You'll know the soda bread is done when it sounds hollow being tapped on the base.
How do you shape vegan soda bread?
You don't knead soda bread, so you might be wondering how to get the characteristic shape.
Once you've brought the dough together use your hands to gently shape it into a circle. This can be relatively flat. Soda bread doesn't have an overly domed top.
To get the signature cross in the middle, use the sharp edge of a dough scraper or a sharp kitchen knife. Cut the cross quite deep - traditionally this was thought to let the fairies out - but now is a great way of tearing and sharing the bread once baked.
Serving suggestions
I love serving this Vegan Blackberry and Cheese Soda Bread fresh out of the oven with lashings of vegan butter. It is definitely best enjoyed warm.
It also tastes good with extra cheese! The blackberries and cheese work so well together.
The recipe
Vegan Blackberry and Cheese Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 350 ml plant based milk soy or oat milk works best
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 250 grams plain white flour
- 200 grams wholemeal flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 75 g vegan cheese I like Cathedral City or Violife's Cheddarnation or Extra Mature
- 100 grams blackberries cut into halves or quarters
- 50 grams oats
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.
- Add the lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) to the plant milk and place to one side.
- Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl with the bicarbonate soda and salt.
- Add the cheese and blackberries and toss them in the flour to ensure they are evenly distributed and coated in the flour.
- Slowly pour in the milk and bring the ingredients together into a rough dough - it shouldn't be too sticky or wet so don't add the liquids all at once.
- Lightly flour a baking tray and sprinkle over half of the oats.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and share it into a neat round boule roughly 18-20cm in diameter.
- Place it onto the baking tray and make a cross in the top of the loaf and sprinkle over the remaining oats.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes then turn the bread upside down and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Leave the bread to cool on a wire rack covered in a clean tea towel.
Nutrition
Storing instructions
To keep fresh, store the soda bread in an airtight container or wrap it tightly in cling film.
This Vegan Blackberry and Cheese Soda Bread is best enjoyed the same day but can keep for 1 - 2 days if stored properly.
More blackberry recipes
If you're looking for more delicious blackberry recipes why not try my two favourite blackberry recipes on the blog.
Or why not try one of these:
- Apple and Blackberry Bircher (vegan)
- Hedgerow Crumble (vegan)
- Apple and Blackberry Crumble Loaf Cake (vegetarian)
- Blackberry Trifle (vegetarian)
More bread recipes
From loaves to buns, flatbreads and more, check out my bread recipe collection.
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