Irish Brown Bread Recipe: Try this Simple, Delicious Recipe to Share Your Irish Side!

As with so many Irish foods, an Irish brown bread recipe is distinguished by simple, plain ingredients.  But don't let that fool you, it is one of the tastiest ways to express your Irish side.

Our family loves brown bread from Ireland for breakfast toast or as a side dish to Guinness stew.  Let us share it with you!

Irish Brown Bread Recipe: Ingredients

This delicious recipe for Irish brown bread requires:

• 4 to 4 1/2 cups flour

• 2 Tbsp sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 4 Tbsp butter

• 1 cup raisins

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Irish Brown Bread Recipe: Baking Process

Step by Step

1. Pre-heat oven to 425°F. While heating, mix together the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Mix in the butter into the bowl using two knives or a pastry cutter
3. until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Once done, add the raisins.
4. Score a hole in the middle of the flour mixture so that it would look like a well. In the hole add the beaten egg and buttermilk. Mix them together with a wooden spoon until the dough becomes stiff.
5. Dust your hands with flour, then knead the dough in the bowl to create a rough ball. When the dough becomes sticky, add more flour. Do not over-knead.
6. Transfer the dough to a floured surface then shape into a loaf and allow it to set for a while.
7. After setting, transfer the dough into a greased iron skillet or baking sheet. Score the top of the dough with an “X” shape, so that the heat would be able to penetrate through the dough as it cooks.
8. Bake the dough in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until bread is golden brown.

You can check whether the loaf is done by poking it with a long skewer into the center. When the skewer comes out clean, the bread is ready to come out of the oven.

When cooling the bread, it is a must that you cover its outer crust with a towel as this helps in maintaining the crisp factor in the bread; at the same time it preserves the bread’s freshness and lengthens it shelf life.

How to Eat It

What makes this Irish brown bread recipe fun to eat is that you can match it with any type of spread and still taste the best of both flavors.

While others prefer it stale, we like to eat it with butter on top, especially when the bread is still hot.  Other spreads that can be matched with Irish brown bread include fruit marmalade and in meat spread.

You might also try baking the bread without raisins, or substituting other simple ingredients such as black olives.

It is also served as an alternative to potatoes in seafood dishes, such as smoked salmon.

Want Even More?

At Irish Expressions, our our goal is simple: to provide you with a unique Irish experience, on demand, wherever you are in the world.

If you have enjoyed our section on Irish Food Recipes, you have probably been exposed to many of the most delicious flavors that Ireland has to offer!

Will that entice you to visit Ireland - or to return if you have already been? 

We hope so!  

But even if that is not possible, you can still enjoy the magic of Ireland in these pages.  Check out the links at the top of the page for simple instructions on how to explore Irish landmarks, enjoy Irish food, practice Irish customs, and much more!

Fun With Irish Expressions

Congratulations on learning more about the Emerald Isle and discovering what we like to call your "Irish Side."  You may be thinking "I'd love to actually VISIT Ireland but that's really not in the cards right now.  What am I supposed to do with the stuff I just learned?"

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