If you are drawn to a cottagecore lifestyle, then Irish Stout Brown Bread with Oats is gonna hit the spot. This bread retains the old-world charm and simplicity of traditional Irish brown bread but adds stout for depth of flavor.
Irish Stout Brown Bread is provincial personified. The exterior bakes up rustic and craggy with rich tones of mahogany, while the interior marries malted notes of dark beer and the wholesome, slightly sweet goodness of wheat and oats. With no yeast, kneading, or fancy equipment required, nothing stands between you and the cozy comfort of a warm kitchen perfumed with aromas of freshly baked bread.
In a fast-paced world of excess and intricacies, sometimes all you need to decompress is a humble loaf of homemade bread, good butter and a cup of tea. Read on for a recipe that will help you capture the essence of countryside baking.
ACCOMPANIMENTS & PAIRINGS
- preserves or jam, preferably blackberry, black currant, Damson plumb or ginger conserve
- marmalade, preferably Seville orange or bergamot
- apple butter
- almond butter
- buckwheat or wildflower honey
- thinly sliced cheddar and apple
- thick slices of ham or corned beef
- Irish stew
- potato-leek bisque
- vegetable and barley soup
- seafood or clam chowder
- butternut squash soup
NOTES
- You can use rolled or steel cut oats in this recipe but they will give you a grainier texture.
- Tent the bread with a piece of foil if it begins to over brown while baking.
- I often make this bread a day before serving as it gives the bread time to develop a more complex flavor.
- This bread is a fantastic accompaniment to many dishes but is moist and crumbly and therefore not well suited as a sandwich bread.
Irish Stout Brown Bread with Oats
- Yield: 1 Loaf 1x
Description
Servings: one loaf
Special Equipment: 9×5 loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ¼ cup quick cooking oats, divided
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 12 ounces stout beer, room temperature (Guinness recommended)
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted (preferably European style butter)
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- Softened butter or baking spray to grease loaf pan
Instructions
- Position baking rack fitted with a sheet pan to the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
- Grease loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup of oats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cloves. Whisk to combine.
- In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, stout, melted butter and molasses.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just to combine.
- Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of oats. Lightly press on the oats to help them adhere to the top of the batter.
- Put the filled loaf pan on the preheated sheet pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the oats are golden brown, and a skewer inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean
- Turn out the bread onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving as is or toasted, with copious lashings of soft butter and flaky sea salt.
