I’ve got a question about Irish soda bread. I got the recipe from the Bread Bible and followed it, but when I add the amount of buttermilk, I get a nearly unworkable sticky mess? I’m trying to follow the directions, but I can’t even knead the bread because of the sheer stickiness of the dough.

Am I missing something? Or should I cut back on the buttermilk?

I’m just a bit confused, I’ve done basically only yeast leavened bread and this is a new experience for me! Thanks for the help in advance!

Soda bread is like a big savory scone, the dough should be similar to scone dough.  It should be just moist enough to cohere, it sounds like there is too much liquid in the recipe you used.  My go-to soda bread recipe was given to me by someone who is from Ireland. It uses 4 cups of AP flour, 1 1/3 cups buttermilk and 1 egg for the liquids.  I never bother to try and knead the dough, I just gather it together as best I can and plop it into the pan, shaping it into a rounded disk.