Absolutely delicious savoury seeded soda bread, with Asiago cheese and rosemary and served with a chilli flake, garlic and lemon butter. A perfect side for your stews!
When it comes to soda bread, I can go either way. I’ve done and enjoyed a sweet version, with this delicious Fig and Walnut Soda Bread with Honey Butter, so I thought a savoury soda bread with cheese was in order this year.
This seeded soda bread is absolutely delicious. It’s perhaps my favourite soda bread to-date! The texture is so lovely and the cheese and rosemary flavours make it the perfect side for your hearty stews, especially an Irish stew that you might be considering for St. Patrick’s Day.
And of course, this one just goes over the top with a spread of the delicious and easy chilli butter, which is a simple mixture of butter, chilli flakes, garlic and lemon juice, but creates the most wonderful combination of flavours with the bread.
Enjoy this one warm from the oven if you can. It comes together really quickly and doesn’t take long in the oven, so it’s easy to make as your stew cooks away.
Recipe tips!
- This soda bread is best enjoyed when fresh and warm, though does keep well a couple of days at room temperature or freeze up to a month.
- You can use any combination of seeds. I use sunflower, sesame, flax and poppy seeds (about 2 Tbsp of the sunflower and sesame and 1 Tbsp of the flax and poppy seed).
- If you want to change it up a bit, you could use an aged white cheddar in place of the Asiago and/or some thyme leaves instead of the rosemary.
- For a heartier loaf, you can replace up to 1 cup of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. This will create a loaf that is a little more dense, but with nice added flavour from the whole wheat.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
This soda bread is best enjoyed on the day it is baked. Store well-wrapped at room temperature for 2 days or freeze for longer storage. This soda bread will freeze well for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Seeded Soda Bread with Chili Butter
Ingredients
For bread:
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 Tablespoons butter, cut into 10 pieces
- 2 cups Asiago cheese, grated
- 6 inch sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing
- 1/3 cup mixed seeds, sunflower, flax, sesame, poppy seed etc.
For Chili Butter:
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- For bread: Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 6 1/2-inch bottom diameter cast iron skillet (or 7-8 inch round baking pan) and set aside.
- Prepare the seed mixture and set aside (I used 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds, 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, 1 Tbsp flaxseed and 1 Tbsp poppy seeds)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter pieces to the bowl and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese and rosemary. Add enough buttermilk to the flour mixture to form a soft, sticky dough (I usually use all of the 1 1/2 cups). Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead gently a few times, just until smooth. Shape dough into a 7-inch-ish round.
- Sprinkle some of the seed mixture onto the bottom of a greased skillet or baking pan. Place dough on top of seeds. Brush top of dough with more buttermilk, then scatter remaining seeds over the top and sides of dough. Dip a knife in flour, then cut an shallow X into the top of the dough.
- Bake bread in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm with chili butter.
- For Chili Butter: Stir together all ingredients in a small bowl.
More soda bread recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Can this be made with no cheese and still bake successfully?
Hi Janet and yes it can be made without cheese. You may need to adjust the liquid slightly without the cheese.
I would like to try my hand at this. Could I substitute the butter milk? Picture is fantastic!
Hi Pat, you could make your own soured milk, by measuring out 1 1/3 cups of regular milk and adding 4 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice and let stand 5-10 minutes before using. Alternately, just regular milk will work, but won’t provide the bit of tanginess to the dough.