Home › Recipe Index › Bread & Muffins

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Irish Soda Bread

By Lillian Medville

Oct 12, 2011, Updated Dec 10, 2016

I’ve struggled with my food allergies for years. It took me more or less seven years to figure out that I had them, and then another ten years to figure them all out. I’m allergic and intolerant to gluten/grains, dairy, cane sugar, and soy, and while I was (rather painfully) sorting out what I can eat and what I cannot, it also took dramatic toll on the rest of my life.

About two years ago I couldn’t take it anymore. I was tired of seeing food as the enemy. I was tired of feeling deprived and I was tired of being sick all the time. So I bit the bullet and started making my own food. I realized that if I wanted to eat it, I’d have to be the one to make it. And that single thought changed everything.

Now, I make almost everything that I eat. I start with raw ingredients and I make delicious things. I’m healthier and happier than I ever have been in my life. The funny part is that I don’t think I would have gotten here without my food allergies pushing me along the way. It is because of those food allergies that I hated and that made my life so difficult for so long, that I am now unprocessed by default. Personally, I think I’m better off.

Here’s my Irish Soda Bread episode. It’s totally unprocessed, healthful, and of course, delicious.

Get the recipe for Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Irish Soda Bread at Elana’s Pantry, and check out Lillian’s original Irish Soda Bread post to learn how she’d make it differently next time.

About the Author

Lillian Medville is a food blogger who is allergic to gluten/grains, dairy, cane sugar, and soy. Her struggle to understand her own allergies (It took her ten years for her to figure them all out) and to help others battling similar issues inspired her to create Lillian’s Test Kitchen, where she has been making other people’s gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, soy-free, cane-sugar-free recipes for the very first time on camera for the past several years. You’ll also find her chatting about real foods, the emotional impact of food allergies, and on her other things that make her happy on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.