How to Make Homemade No Yeast Bread With Less Than 10 Ingredients
Soda bread is the fastest way to make bread without yeast or eggs.
An easy homemade no-yeast bread recipe is the perfect solution for when that carb craving hits and you don’t have any yeast in the pantry — or that one packet you do have is probably from the previous decade and no longer useful. Bonus: You don’t have to wait around for the bread to rise or deal with fussy shaping or kneading, either. Using just a handful of ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now, we’ll show you how to make fresh, warm bread without yeast (or eggs!), and a foolproof technique that takes about an hour. In fact, keep that oven on — this fast recipe leaves you with plenty of time to whip up one of our best baking recipes while you wait for the bread to cool.
What is no yeast bread?
No yeast bread has a different texture than a classic sourdough recipe or a springy sandwich loaf. You can expect a tighter crumb and a richer mouthfeel — think delicious pound cake versus light puff pastry. This texture is ace for spreading with soft butter or tearing off pieces to enjoy with coffee or tea.
What kind of bread has no yeast?
Sourdough is probably the most common (and IG-famous) type of bread with no yeast; learn how to make a sourdough starter and you can have fresh, tangy loaves for life. But Irish soda bread, beer bread, and flatbread don’t require yeast either, and are easier (and faster!) to make than sourdough.
This recipe is a “soda bread” because it uses — wait for it — baking soda as a leavening agent instead of yeast. Since baking soda requires an acidic ingredient to rise (think elementary school exploding volcano project) we add homemade buttermilk to ensure a decent amount of lift. The “buttermilk” (a quick combo of milk and vinegar) also adds richness and flavor that keeps us coming back for second, and third, slices.
Leftovers can be toasted and spread lavishly with butter and jam, topped with spreads and veggies for open-faced sammies, dunked into creamy soups, or just left on the counter and grazed on all day. After all, the bread only took an hour to make so you have all day to slice, eat, and repeat.
Quick Tips From the Test Kitchen:
- Make sure your butter is cold before you incorporate it into the dough
- You can add ingredients like dried fruit, seeds, or spices right into the dough before baking
- Don’t overwork the dough as you mix it, knead the dough until it just comes together
- Cutting a deep cross in the top of the shaped dough before baking helps it rise
- To know when the bread is done, stick a toothpick into the center and if it releases with little to no crumbs on it, the bread is done
- Let the bread cool on a wire rack for at least an hour, if you let it cool completely it will be easier to get uniform slices
- To freeze, cut the loaf into thick slices and wrap tightly. To defrost, just pop one slice into the toaster or oven until warmed through.
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, cold
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or substitute 1 1/2 cups milk mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp. of vinegar
Directions
- Step 1Heat oven to 350°F. Grease large baking sheet or line with parchment.
- Step 2In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. With pastry blender or 2 knives used scissors-fashion, cut in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute) until flour is evenly moistened.
- Step 3On a well-floured surface, knead dough 8 to 10 times just until combined. Shape into flattened ball; place on baking sheet. Cut 1/4-inch-deep "X" into top.
- Step 4Bake loaf until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool completely on wire rack.
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