Guinness Bread

So what’s Guinness bread you ask?

Quite simply, it’s a traditional Irish soda bread made partially on wholemeal flour and a good slug of dark stout beer. While similar to Irish brown bread, the Guinness adds a slightly sweet flavor to the loaf.

Serve a slice alongside a Guinness beef stew or seafood pie – it’s perfect for dunking or mopping up the sauce.

Here’s what you need to get started

• Plain, all-purpose flour. Don’t be tempted with bread flour for this recipe, it won’t make any difference to the end result. Plain, white flour is all you need.
  
  
• Wholemeal / Whole Wheat Flour. So here’s the lowdown on making Irish soda bread. Irish wholemeal flour is what makes it FLIPPIN DELICIOUS. It’s so much coarser and less refined than Australian wholemeal flour, and when used for baking, it has a slightly nutty flavor profile. Odlum wholemeal flour is my go-to flour for Irish brown bread. In Australia, it’s available in selected Irish food suppliers and some supermarkets.
  
  
• Rolled oats
  
   
• Sea salt flakes. 
  
  
• Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda). The combination of bicarb soda and buttermilk makes this hearty Irish bread rise.
  
  
• Golden Syrup. Bonus points if it’s Lyles golden syrup – it’s the BEST. No golden syrup in the pantry? Try substituting with black treacle instead. 
  
  
• Buttermilk – if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, don’t stress. It’s so easy to make from scratch for this recipe. In a measuring jug or small bowl, combine 1 cup of regular whole milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice. Leave for a couple of minutes until it curdles. Now you’ve got buttermilk ready to use!
  
  
• Guinness draught beer. Why Guinness you ask? Well, when it comes to baking, Guinness adds a hint of sweetness to your baked goods. 

The nitty gritty

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F. Grease a loaf pan and pop aside.
   
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and give it a quick whisk to break up any clumps and aerate the dry ingredients.
   
   
3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the Guinness, buttermilk and golden syrup to the middle of the bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix all the ingredients together until they are just combined, but no more as it doesn’t like to be overmixed. It should be a wet and sticky dough, unlike a traditional bread dough.
   
   
4. Place the dough into the greased loaf pan. Using a spoon dunked in a little water, and smooth out the top of the loaf. With a sharp knife, make a 1-2cm cut on the top of the dough down the center of the loaf. Scatter the loaf with the extra tablespoon of rolled oats.
   
   
5. Pop the loaf into the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown on top.
   
   
6. Remove the loaf of bread from the bread pan and turn out onto a wire rack to let the bread cool. You can tell when a loaf of fresh bread is cooked when you tap on the base and get a hollow sound.

Equipment

Don’t you just love a recipe that only uses one bowl? A large mixing bowl, measuring tools, and a wooden spoon are all you need to make this Irish Guinness brown bread recipe. 

I bake this Guinness bread in a small loaf pan. 20 x 11cm loaf pan greased with butter. When I’m making soda bread loaves in a tin, I never line them with parchment paper. Maybe I’m a bit of a gambler, but I’ve never had one stick. If in doubt, line the base with a strip of greaseproof paper after greasing, and then top with a little more butter all over.

How to eat Guinness bread 

Slathered with cold Irish butter gets my vote! A little jam also hits the spot, too.

Alongside a bowl of lamb shank soup for a hearty supper after a long day.

On St Patrick’s Day, treat yourself to a big bowl of Irish stew with a pint of Guinness on the side. 

FAQ’s

Storage

This Guinness beer bread is best eaten warm, just out of the oven on the day that it’s made. While you can definitely eat it on day 2, it will need to be either toasted or heated slightly to regain its freshness. 

To store, wrap in either plastic wrap or store in an airtight container. 

To freeze, place cooled slices of Guinness bread in a double layer of plastic wrap and freeze for up to six weeks.

Love bread and dough recipes? Here try these ones…

• Pizza Dough From Scratch
• Cheese and Bacon Rolls
• Bacon & Cheese Soda Scones
• Porridge Bread

Happy bread baking!

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