Ina Garten's Irish Brown Bread with Guinness and Oats
Ina Garten's Irish Brown Bread is hearty, slightly sweet and has a distinctive malty flavor from Guinness. This quick bread easy to make and oh so satisfying, served slathered with butter or alongside your favorite soup or Irish Stew for St. Patrick’s Day.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus more for sprinkling (not instant oats)
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed (or 1/2 cup light brown sugar + 1 tablespoon molasses)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 11- to 12-ounce bottle Guinness Extra Stout beer, room temperature (or Irish Stout of choice)
- 1 cup *buttermilk
- 5 tablespoons unsalted Irish butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan with nonstick spray and line pan with parchment paper that hangs over the edge of your pan for easy removal.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla and molasses, if using.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Stir the batter from the middle of the bowl to the outside, until it's well mixed. (Batter will resemble cake batter rather than bread dough.)
- Pour the batter into prepared pan and sprinkle the top with oats. Place bread in oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow bread to cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove bread from pan using paper. Place on wire rack and allow to cool completely.
- Slice and serve with Irish butter, honey or jam, alongside your favorite soup or Irish Stew.
Notes
- Shake the buttermilk before you measure it and leave on the counter for a bit to come to room temperature.
- *Buttermilk substitution:
To make 1 cup of buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Top with whole milk to the 1 cup line.
Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes until slightly thickened and you see small curdled bits. - Dark brown sugar contains more molasses, moisture and is more acidic than light brown sugar. If using light brown sugar add 1 tablespoon of molasses to recipe.
- Allow bread to cool completely to prevent crumbling when sliced.