Irish honey, blue cheese and walnut soda bread recipe

Go big and bold on flavors as they are mellowed down once cooked in the bread. Even though we use a strong blue cheese, the flavor is quite subtle in the end. We infuse our honey with ginger for an extra kick.

Irish honey, blue cheese and walnut soda bread

Serves: Makes 1 round loaf

Time: 1 hour+

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients: 

- 500g granary flour/malted flour

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 10g bicarbonate of soda

- 200g blue cheese, we use Wicklow Farmhouse

- 50g honey

- 100g walnuts

- 400ml milk

- 1 tablespoon yogurt

Method: 

Combine the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Crumble in the blue cheese and mix through the flour. Don’t over-mix as you want to retain little pockets of blue cheese in your mix.

Form a well in the center and add the honey and milk along with the yogurt. Fold in the flour with the walnuts, making sure not to over-mix.

Grease and flour a round cake tin. Add the soda bread mix and allow to stand for two to three minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Bake the soda bread for 30-40 minutes. The bread is cooked when the tip of a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center.

Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

* This article was originally published with permission from our former sister publication Food & Wine Ireland. Last updated in June 2023.