When I came to Ireland with Rob the first time in 2016, I loved the brown bread. It was served with every meal at every B&B we stayed at. In the morning, there was brown bread with Irish butter and jam. Lunch and dinner were always served with a side of brown bread and butter to keep you going until your main course arrived.
So when we got back to America, I had to figure out how to make it. The first loaf I took to my parents got SMOTHERED in butter. They were under the impression that Irish soda bread is sugary with raisins. But that’s Irish-American soda bread. Soda bread here in Ireland is just a base of flour, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt. Easy Peasy.
Now that I’m back in Ireland, I’ve noticed the breads are getting a makeover. Restaurants now have treacle brown bread, Guinness brown bread. It’s all so delicious!
I think of buttermilk the way I think about yogurt or sour cream. It’s a cultured product, which to me means the “use by” date is a rough guideline. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to give this bread its rise. So in my opinion even if your buttermilk is spoiled, that just makes the bread that much better once it’s baked!
I’ve spent my months living here perfecting my recipe. Rob seems to like it and his folks have never complained when I’ve made it for them. I’ve converted my temperatures from a Celsius fan over to typical Fahrenheit so I can’t guarantee the temperatures are exactly right. Same as my last recipe, weighing dry ingredients is much more accurate than measuring in cups so I’ve stuck to that method here as well.
Guinness Black Treacle Brown Bread
- 450 grams coarse or whole wheat flour
- 125 grams plain or all purpose flour
- 2 tsp bread soda or baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 550 ml liquid – I divide mine into 300 ml butter milk and 250 ml Guinness stout. For a more “toasty” flavor, you could do more Guinness and a little less buttermilk
- Heaping tbsp black treacle or dark molasses if you cannot find treacle
- Instant or steel cut oatmeal optional
Preheat oven to 200C for a fan-forced oven (425F). Butter a bread tin thoroughly. I also like to line my buttered bread tin with a piece of parchment paper to help get the loaf out of the pan (picture below). In a large bowl, combine both flours, the baking soda, and salt and mix with your hand or a fork to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together the treacle or molasses with your Guinness and buttermilk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients.
Mix everything together with a fork or your hands (my personal favorite) until just combined. Do not over work! When your mixture is ready, it should be very sticky; a lot wetter than you would expect for a bread dough.
Dump your mixture into your buttered bread tin and top with your oatmeal if you’ve decided to use it. Bake for 30 minutes on 200C fan (425F). After 30 minutes check your bread. I like my bread a bit crustier but if you prefer a softer top, at this point you will want to cover your bread with some aluminum foil. Place back in the oven and drop your temperature to 180C fan (400F) for 15 minutes. At this point I start checking my bread with a knife. The knife should come away clean. I find my bread typically takes another 15 minutes before it is done. My total baking time tends to be roughly 1 hour.
Once your bread is done, remove it from the tin and wrap it in a clean tea towel. This helps lock in the moisture. When it has cooled to the touch, you are ready to eat!
Ways I love to eat my brown bread: with butter, with butter and jam, with butter and smoked salmon, with a sour cream and chive cream cheese spread AND smoked salmon, dipped in soups, used to scoop up extra food on a plate….the uses are really endless!
