Butter honey soda bread is the loaf you make when you want bread on the table without any of the faff of yeast, proving, or planning ahead. No bread maker, no banneton, no waiting. Mix it, shape it, bake it – and it's done in under forty minutes.

This version has become a reliable fixture at Casa Adora. The combination of butter and honey gives it a richness that plain soda bread lacks — still rustic, still satisfying, but with a slightly more considered flavour. The oatmeal adds texture and a gentle earthiness that works particularly well with the wholemeal flour. It's the kind of loaf that makes a Tuesday feel more like a Sunday.

I bake it in a Dutch oven, which gives a better crust than an open tray. If you don't have one, a covered casserole dish works just as well.

Butter honey soda bread cooling on the rack – Casa Adora

Ingredients for butter honey soda bread recipe:

• 350g strong white flour
• 115g wholemeal flour
• 50g oatmeal
• 1½ tsp sea salt
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 285ml oat milk (you may not need it all)
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 60g butter, melted

Method

1. Preheat Heat the oven to 200°C. Place your Dutch oven inside to preheat at the same time – a hot Dutch oven gives a better crust.

2. Sour the milk Mix the oat milk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside for a few minutes. This mimics buttermilk and reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to give the bread its rise.

3. Mix the dry ingredients In a large bowl, combine the flours, oatmeal, salt, and bicarbonate of soda.

4. Add the wet ingredients Add the honey and melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix through. Slowly add the soured oat milk, mixing as you go, until you have a shaggy, slightly sticky mass. You may not need all the milk — stop when the dough just comes together.

5. Shape Turn it out onto a floured surface and shape it into a ball — don't overwork it. Slash deeply across the top with a sharp knife and brush lightly with a little oat milk.

6. Bake Sprinkle the base of the preheated Dutch oven with a little semolina to prevent it from sticking. Carefully lower the dough in and bake with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for a further 5–10 minutes until golden. Mine only needed 5.

7. Cool Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool before slicing. Soda bread is best eaten on the day it's baked, but it toasts well the following morning.

A few notes

The vinegar is essential – it's what activates the bicarbonate of soda and gives the loaf its lift. Don't skip it.

Oat milk works well here both as a liquid and as part of the flavour profile alongside the oatmeal. If you don't have oat milk, whole milk with a tablespoon of vinegar works just as well.

The semolina on the base of the Dutch oven is a small but worthwhile detail — it stops the loaf sticking and adds a faint crunch to the bottom crust.

This butter honey soda bread loaf doesn't keep as well as a yeasted bread — soda bread is best the day it is made. That said, a day-old slice toasted with butter is not a hardship.

I hope you enjoy baking these bread recipes as much as I've enjoyed developing them. More will arrive here as they make it out of the oven and onto the page.

Find more bread recipes and food adventures at The Flexible Chef.

Wonky photos, proper bread, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef.