Grain Free Irish Soda Bread has no sugar added, and is low in carbs as well as nut free!
As I’m writing this post this morning a few days before I will actually post, it is my daughters birthday. She is 12. I am in shock. Where has my baby girl gone? No more with princesses and dolls, onto One Direction and texting on an iPod. I’m totally not ready for what this year will bring as we ease into her teen years.
But I try each day to remember we all grow up. Whether I like change or not, it is inevitable and I need to relax.
How does one relax when you’re that Type A kind of personality?
One who has schedules, sticks to them, manages a house of 6 and is always kind of uptight. I’m not ashamed to say it, I just am. I wish I wasn’t. My hubby ,thank God is the more relaxed one. He’s the go with the flow kind of man. He balances me out and I need him for sure.
So as we venture into unknown territory with our not so little girl anymore, we hope and pray these years won’t be as hard as so many parents who have gone before us have graciously shared their horror stories.
When a child is difficult and trying it can certainly cause the peace in the home to be evaporated and energy as a parent is quite honestly, zapped.
Just like trying a recipe multiple times with failures. Energy might be zapped, but determination is on fire like a race car at the starting line. It fuels me when I fail.
Luckily for this recipe today, I had success right off the gate!
Here’s the thing though about making a nut free, grain free Irish soda bread: It will not be identical to traditional, in any way really.
If you can get passed that, you will love this recipe.
Traditional Irish Soda bread got it’s name because it’s a quick bread that doesn’t need yeast to rise and instead uses baking soda in the recipe for leavening. But the thing about having a child with tree nut allergies is, I can’t use low carb flours like almond flour. I use sunflower seed flour instead. Problem with that? If I were to use baking soda with sunflower seed flour, it will turn my bread green because of the natural chlorophyll in the seeds. That would certainly be gross.
As I continue to be determined in making recipes that are sugar free and low carb, I will continue to have grace towards my pre-teen daughter. I am determined to be grateful for this precious child God has given us and thank God for her every day no matter what the future brings!
Brenda’s Notes:
- My cast iron skillet used is 8 inches.
- If you don’t have nut allergies like our family, try using the same amount of almond flour in place of the sunflower seeds. Also replace the baking powder with baking soda. Please come back and let me know if you made those substitutions and how they turned out.
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Grain Free Irish Soda Bread (Low Carb and Sugar-Free)
Ingredients
- 2 cups sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/4 cup Swerve sweetener or 2 tbsp powdered stevia
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup raisins or currants
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Grind the sunflower seeds in a food processor.
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Add the flaxseed, coconut flour, swerve, baking powder (or soda) and salt.
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Pulse in the butter.
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Add remaining ingredients, except raisins.
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Remove dough and transfer to a bowl.
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Mix in raisins or currants.
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Wet hands to form shape and place in a greased cast iron skillet.
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Score an x in the middle and bake 30 minutes.
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Reduce the temperature to 325 and bake another 5-10 minutes or until golden on top.
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Allow to cool before slicing.
A wonderful grain-free alternative! I have two young teen girls and things are moving waaay to fast for me too! Deep breaths!!!!!
I definitely am not Type-A. Not even a hint of it. This bread looks spectacular and I love that it’s low-carb.
This looks like another winner, Brenda! Yum!!
Perfect fr my gluten free friends
The 2 cups of seeds are measured before pulverizing. So how much flour does that produce? I’d like to try it with almond flour, but the recipe would definitely require less than 2 cups, right?
I just made recipe with 2 cups of blanched super fine almond flour and 2 teaspoons of baking soda, instead. Worked great!
Thanks for sharing!
Bless you as you venture into the teenage years! You’ll be fine as long as you remember to breathe and remember they won’t last forever (they only feel like it).
That said, your bread look delicious and you should “rest” assured knowing you doing your very best for you, your family and a whole world of people with dietary restrictions!
Wow. Who would have thought you could make a grain-free soda bread! Great job.
I have the worst luck with making soda bread. In fact a few years I just gave up making it. I think I need to try this grain free version 🙂
I know the teen years are challenging, but Renee is right, breathe…lots of patience. I’m going through it now and I feel the same way about wondering where did the playing with dolls stage go? Goes so fast. I think you nailed this soda bread, Brenda! Looks great!
I had the hardest time when my oldest turned twelve. For some reason that age feels so pivotal. I’m glad that you had a good looking bread to celebrate the milestone.
My eldest turned 13 in the fall and, while there have been up and down hormonal moods, things have been good overall. I’m crossing my fingers that continues! I adore soda bread and this looks so tempting.
I don’t know, you could have just told us it was green for St. Paddy’s Day and nobody would’ve been the wiser ;). This sounds fantastic…and I’m so intrigued by the use of sunflower seed flour I’ve been seeing around lately.
What a great grain free alternative!
I’ve never tried making soda bread. But your post has inspired me to give it a whirl. It’s supposed to snow AGAIN this weekend, so no better time than the present!
Great thinking outside the box so grain-free folks can enjoy some soda bread!
My hubby loves making soda bread – I’ll need to try this grain free version for him! And I hear you about kids. My daughter is 2, and I already get teary thinking about when she’ll become a teenager!
Hi there, It looks tasty. I make a flaxseed cake with baking soda and lemon juice instead baking powder to avoid Aluminum found in baking powder. For sweetners I use raisin, banana puree and sometimes honey. A fat, I use only virgin olive oil instead butter even when I make a bread loaf home. Try to avoid butter or vegetable oils. Thanks for the recipe, I give it try one day. Ciao
Great recipies!! Thank you so much for sharing these. I’ve lost over 100lbs on low carb and I’ve been doing it for over 2 years. It was rough to get started, but I used a 21 day sugar detox program which helped a lot. Check out the reviews of it http://www.lowcarbreviewsite.com/21-day-sugar-detox/
How much almond flour corresponds to 2 cups of sunflower seeds? Thanks!
Can it be baked in a different type of dish?
sure
I made this recipe and the squirrels loved it! The flavor is too much like just eating sunflower seeds. Works in a pinch but nothing like soda bread.
Option is to make with almond flour but for my family with nut allergies, sunflower seed works perfect and my kids and hubby loved these.
What a lovely recipe! I did the almond flour version and I added caraway seeds I crush lightly in my stone to release their flavor! My grand parents came from Ireland and I grew up with soda bread scones and biscuits all made by hand! Unfortunately I can’t do carbs but thanks to people like you I don’t have to go without! I’m baking. Low carb sugar free blueberry scones to have with my tea in the morning! Your bread with my evening tea! It’s so amazing warm with Keri gold butter! Thank you for this recipe! Many Irish blessing to you and your family!
How much almond flour did you use?
I tried making this bread using the sunflower seeds and the baking soda, and yes, it turned green! I also swapped the flaxseed with ground chia seeds. The only thing I wasn’t very sure about is that my food processor didn’t ground the sunflower seeds very finely, so at the end I had some half sunflower seeds in it, instead of finely ground sunflower seeds. I tried to ground it for some time in the food processor, but it was starting to release its oil and getting sticky, forming like a butter that I had to fork to separate, still with chunks of seeds. I wonder if that’s what didn’t let the bread rise altogether.
Flavour wise, living in Ireland, I know for a fact that it doesn’t taste like the traditional recipe, but I was prepared for it. It has sunflower flavour blended with something strong that I can’t put my finger on, but it kind of reminds me of fish food for some reason, not very nice! Lol!
I will definitely try this again with some changes, swapping sunflower with almond flour and maybe adding some herbs to maximise the flavour. I also thought this could be a good recipe for a low carb falafel, adding cumin to the mix.
Having said (all) that, I must thank you Brenda for sharing this recipe, because I’ve been wanting to try a low carb Irish soda bread but I wouldn’t have a clue where to start without your advice!
I can’t wait to try this but also have the same question- how much almond flour is substituted for the sunflower seeds? I’m sure it can’t be equal measurements since the seeds would grind down to less when measured. My hubby would eat almond meal but not sunflower seeds. I didn’t see a reply on this question so please let me know! We want to make it in the next few days for St. Patty’s Day! Thank you for the great recipes!-Sydney
Based on a different recipe I make on a regular basis (haven’t made this one), the ground down amount of 2 cups of seeds would be around 3 cups (a little less). I grind 15 Tbs of seeds for my recipe and get about 1 1/4 cup + 1 Tbs. (if we’re being exact…but I now grind a lot of seeds and just measure out about 1 1/2 c. of seed flour). I’m sure the almond flour would be way finer than the seed flour I grind, so take that into account.