Authentic Irish Brown Bread

 For home-baked bread speedier than my Speedy No-Knead Artisan Bread, I bake Irish Brown Bread. A staple bread in Ireland, Irish Brown is different from soda bread for it’s distinctive large crumb texture and wheaty flavor with a touch of molasses. There’s no rise time, and it stirs up in about 5 minutes. I learned how to bake this authentic version while visiting friends a few summers back 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 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 (see photo below). 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!). I like the finer textured brown bread made with our whole wheat flour, but the difference makes for appreciation of international food experiences. I add extra seeds to compensate for 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. 

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Irish Brown Bread

Course Breakfast

Keyword bread

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 1 loaf, 16 slices

Author Rosemary Mark

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 (use from Rita's Best Buttermilk Pancakes!)
• 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.

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.