Irish Oatmeal Brown Bread
I admit I am not a good baker. But when it comes to baking bread, particularly beer bread? Well give me a Paul Hollywood handshake and call me Star Baker, because I am pretty darn good at it!
Ok, so if you’ve ever made beer bread you know it’s the world’s best shortcut to baking some pretty stellar bread. Why? Well because of the yeast in beer, of course. So with the crack of a can, you’re already three steps ahead to making some amazing bread, with built in flavor from the beer of your choosing.
This bread though takes beer bread to the next level with the use of (you guessed it, my beer loving friends) Irish Death! If you’ve been following along my blog, you know that Iron Horse Brewery’s Irish Death is practically always stocked in our fridge, thanks to my brother who is one of their beer reps. This means not only drinking it whenever we want but finding other delicious uses for it like beer-braised onion dip, Irish beef stew or Seattle dogs with slow cooker caramelized onions.
But this Irish oatmeal brown bread might be my favorite use of all time. The smell alone when it’s baking - sweet, nutty and yeasty - is enough to fall in love with. But served up warm with a healthy pat of salted Kerrygold butter? There is truly nothing better, friends!
To top it off, this bread couldn’t be easier to whip up. No waiting for yeast to activate, no proofing or rising. Just mixing, baking and enjoying to your heart’s content.
Pro tip: serve this up with my loaded baked potato soup for one cozy meal!
Irish Oatmeal Brown Bread
Ingredients
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Irish Guinness Brown Bread recipe
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons oats
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 12-oz bottle of Irish beer, such as Irish Death
1 cup buttermilk
5 tablespoons unsalted melted butter plus 2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter, for greasing the pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Salted Kerrygold butter, for serving
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, 5 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix until well combined.
Brush a loaf pan with 2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle the top with remaining oats. Put the bread in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 400 degrees, and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn the bread out onto a baking rack and allow to cool completely. Slice and serve with Kerrygold butter - no exceptions!
