Irish Brown Bread | Rich and Hearty
Irish Brown Bread is a hearty, flavorful loaf with a crumbly, crusty exterior and a dense, moist interior. Made with whole grain wheat flour and oats, it has a nutty flavor that can’t compare to breads made from white flour. It’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from American white bread. Although I’ve never been to Ireland, traditional Irish cuisine fascinates me. So I had to try my hand at Irish Brown Bread in honor of St. Paddy’s Day.
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I read a lot of traditional brown bread recipes before cobbling together my own. This recipe was inspired by recipes from Ireland like this one by Kevin Dundon, by greats like David Lebovitz’ Ballymaloe Irish Brown Bread, as well as recipes from Americans who have visited Ireland and tried the bread, like the recipe from the blog Hungry Enough to Eat Six. I found that although they vary, they all share the same basic ingredients. Whole grain flour (preferably Irish flour), buttermilk, and baking soda are staples. This is basically a soda bread, like that other famous Irish bread everyone loves. Only darker, nuttier, and less sweet.
I had to work with the ingredients in my pantry since I don’t have access to Irish flours. King Arthur Baking’s Irish-Style flour worked well for me. However I learned that you can purchase authentic Irish whole grain flour at Amazon. I will definitely try that next year! Also, Irish Brown Bread does not contain sugar. However, some recipes I came across did include Black Treacle, which I happened to already have in my pantry. This helps contribute to the gorgeous deep brown color of the bread, and adds the slightest hint of sweetness. I stirred it into the buttermilk to help distribute it evenly into the dough, as you can see above.
To round out the dough, I added part wheat bran and part oat bran with the flour. I prefer to weigh my ingredients for baking to ensure accuracy, so I figured a total of 320 grams of whole grain flour with 160 grams of white flour would work. However, I decided to use only 300 grams of the Irish-Style flour and make up the remaining 20 grams using the wheat/oat bran. You can leave out the bran if you’d like and it won’t affect the results.
Although there is a little kneading involved, this bread is not kneaded like a yeasted bread would be. Kneading may not even be the appropriate term. It’s more of a folding and shaping. Too much handling will cause the bread to turn out tough and more dense than it should be. I added the tiniest amount of flour to my hands to prevent sticking and “kneaded” it right in the bowl. Then I shaped it into a disk a few inches thick, sprinkled some oats on top, and cut the traditional cross into the top. Be careful not to cut all the way through!
Wow- this bread smelled fantastic baking! We could smell it throughout the house. It smells nuttier, deeper, and richer than the traditional white bread smell. I baked my loaf for about 35 minutes, although I saw recipe variations showing a bake time of anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour. Most recipes say to test for doneness by tapping on the bottom of the loaf and listening for a hollow sound. I’ve never been able to judge by that elusive sound, so I simply use the toothpick test.
This is a gorgeous loaf of bread! It was hard to let it cool before slicing it up. We let it cool about half an hour before risking a slice. This bread is really delicious and hearty. It is very dense and filling, and tastes the best to me when it’s toasted and slathered in butter with a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea!
This bread seems to keep well at room temperature. I keep mine wrapped in a cloth and stored in a bowl with a loose-fitting lid and it’s been great so far. Let me know if you’ve ever tried authentic Irish Brown Bread!
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Irish Brown Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups Irish-Style Flour 320g (may use whole grain flour instead)
- 1 cup all purpose flour 120g
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 c buttermilk 340g
- 2-3 tbsp black treacle or molasses
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl; set aside.
- Combine the buttermilk, treacle, and butter; whisk well as treacle will settle in the bottom.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour buttermilk mixture into the well and stir to combine.
- Knead in the bowl a few times to form dough into a ball. Try not to add too much flour or work dough too much or the bread will be tough.
- Pat dough into a disk on the baking sheet. Sprinkle oats on top and pat to help adhere to dough.
- Cut cross into dough, being careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool bread at least 20 minutes before slicing.