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TCFJR - Ireland

Irish Brown Bread

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While we’ve been in Ireland, my morning meal of choice is a scone or some kind of bread. For a while now I’ve been picking up a four-pack of fruit scones from the Tesco in Dundalk, and it’s quick and easy when paired with a cup of coffee or tea.

It often happens that I run out of scones long before we need to make a trip to Tesco. The fallback is a protein bar or a piece of sourdough toast. But last week I decided to try baking my own Irish Brown Bread instead of getting scones.

I had to visit the local Woodies for some painting supplies, and hit up the housewares aisle while I was there. They had a very nice loaf tin (pan) on sale, so I added to the trolley. I stopped at the Dunnes just down the road to pick up the rest of the supplies - wholemeal flour, AP flour, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), salt flakes, whole milk and the lemon juice needed to make it into buttermilk, and runny honey.

I’ve made two loaves so far, with results exceeding expectations. It’s always best hot out of the oven, slathered with Kerrygold butter. For the next few days you can get great results by toasting a slice. It takes just a few minutes to mix up the ingredients, and 35 minutes in the oven.

For the next loaf Carole and I have decided to try adding raisins and cinnamon, and doubling the amount of honey. She brought a really fresh bag of raisins when we flew in earlier this month, so it should be fantastic.

Original Recipe

## Irish Brown Bread

# About

  • Preparation time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
  • Servings: 12 slices

# Ingredients

  • 250g AP flour
  • 200g coarse wholemeal flour
  • 2 tsp sea salt flakes (or 1 tsp table salt)
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
  • 1 tbsp runny honey | 2 tbsp optional
  • 400ml buttermilk | or regular milk with 3tbsp lemon juice
  • (optional) 1/4 cup bran meal
  • (optional) 2 tsp cinammon
  • (optional) 3/4 cup total of raisins and/or craisins

# Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan). Grease a loaf pan with butter.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (but leave the raisins/craisins for the end). Using a whisk, give them a good mix to break up any lumps an aerate the ingredients
  3. In a measuring cup/jug, combine the buttermilk and honey. Use a fork or a frother to give it a quick mix.
  4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Using a wooden spoon or a wooden/silicon spatula, mix all the ingredients together until they are just combined, but no more. It should be a wet and stick dough, unlike a traditional bread dough.
  5. Add the raisins/craisins (if included) and stir gently to combine.
  6. Using a spoon dipped in water, smooth out the top of the loaf.
    With a sharp knife, make a cut on the top of the dough down the center of the loaf lengthwise.
  7. Pop the loaf into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through and golden on top.
  8. Remove the loaf from the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to let the break cool. You can tell when a loaf of fresh bread is cooked when you tap on the base and get a hollow sound.

# Nutrition (without raisins/craisins)

  • Serving Size: 1/12 of the loaf
  • Calories: 239
  • Sugar: 4.9g
  • Sodium: 790mg
  • Fat: 2.6g
  • Carbohydrates: 46.5g
  • Protein: 8.2g
  • Cholesterol: 5.7mg