I'm lucky St. Patrick's Day inspired a loaf of Raisin Irish Soda Bread in my kitchen. All…
Authentic Irish Brown Bread
For home-baked bread speedier than my Speedy No-Knead Artisan Bread, I bake Irish Brown Bread. It stirs up in about 5 minutes and goes straight into the oven.
A staple bread in Ireland, Irish Brown is differs from soda bread with a distinctive coarse crumb texture and wheaty flavor with a touch of molasses.
I learned to bake this authentic version while visiting friends at their B&B in Tullamore, Ireland, between Dublin and the Galway coast. Our Irish friend John adds crunchy sunflower, sesame, poppy and pumpkin seeds. It was the best brown bread I tasted in Ireland!
I carefully watched John make the bread and took exact measurements. Then I made adjustments to the temperature and bake time since John baked in an Aga Cooker which doesn’t have exact temperatures, only hotter and cooler oven chambers and he baked the bread in both. I came up with a compromise in my oven, but the key is to bake until well browned so the center is fully cooked.
In Ireland I noticed this bread is commonly baked in the evening for the morning breakfast, as John did, and some of the other B&B’s. On our last night, the B&B proprietor gifted me a bag of Odlums brand whole meal flour which is an extra coarse wheat flour. It was worth lugging home! The coarser flour plus the seeds makes the distinctive brown bread texture. Odlums is available on-line or look for the coarsest brand you can find, such as King Arthur, unless you happen to have a grain mill. (Which might be on my wish list now!). Regular whole wheat flour plus some bran flakes is a good substitute (see recipe note), and I add extra seeds to compensate if using less coarse flour.
Bake a loaf for the luck of the Irish this March 17 and I think you’ll make this bread often! After the second or third day I like to serve it toasted, and its always good with butter and my Basic Citrus Marmalade.
Irish Brown Bread
Servings: 1 loaf, 16 slices
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups 200g coarse whole wheat flour (see Test Notes)
- 1-1/2 cups 200g all-purpose flour
- 1-2 tablespoons each sunflower sesame, and poppy seeds, or your choice
- 1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1-1/4 cups 300g buttermilk For dairy-free, use 1-1/4c full fat Oatly or other oat milk, and add 1 Tbsp white or cider vinegar. Stir and let stand until clabbered.
- 2 tablespoons 40g blackstrap or dark molasses
- 1 tablespoon 10g sunflower oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup natural or golden raisins optional
- 1-2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°. Coat a 9x5 or 8x4.5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, oil and egg.
- Stir liquids into dry mixture just until batter is evenly moistened. Stir in raisins if desired. Spread evenly in pan. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Moisten fingers and flatten top, lightly pressing seeds.
- Bake 30-35 minutes until well browned and pick inserted in center comes out clean. It may be a little longer in some ovens.
Notes
King Arthur brand is coarsest I've found. I also like results with 1-1/4 cups of any brand whole wheat flour plus 1/2 cup wheat bran.
If you don’t have buttermilk, pour 1 tablespoon white vinegar or cider vinegar into a 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Fill to the 1-cup level with whole or 2% milk. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes for milk to clabber or slightly thicken.
NOTE: I was not compensated to mention brands in this post.
A few years ago I visited friends in Dublin, Ireland. Every morning we were greeted with a pot of hot Tea and a basket of warm Brown Bread. At first I wasn’t sure I liked the dry and nutty texture of the bread but by the end of my visit I could not wait to wake up every morning to this slice of Irish heritage. I still think about that bread and when I saw this post my first thought was “I’m making this for my family”. Thanks Rosemary for bringing back great travel and food memories!
So neat Kelly! Thanks for sharing that and do let me know if you try the bread!
This is the closest I have found to the bread we had in Kenmare, Ireland. Easy recipe, and wrapped in a tea towel it was still soft enough to eat after several days. LOVED this bread and will be making it regularly!
Karin- Thank you so much for letting me know you like this Irish Brown Bread. I agree, it’s really good! Glad to know it keeps well in the tea towel.
Loved it!
Thank you Mary, and I’m so glad to hear!
Great recipe!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked this bread.
It’s a wonderful bread, freezes well.Thank you for the recipe
Thank you! It’s a big loaf so I’m glad it froze well for you.
This is the closest I’ve found to some wonderful Irish bread we had in Ireland also. I substituted 1/2 cup of flour with ground oatmeal and added 1/2 cup of chopped dried apricots. It turned out great!!
Also, thank you for the lack of ads in this post.
Renee- what a delicious variation and I’m so glad it met your taste memory of Ireland! I really appreciate you sharing, and about the ads 🙂