Interested in Irish brown bread recipe? Read on to find out how to make the Irish brown bead at home…
The brown bread from Ireland along with its varieties is one of the most popular breads around the world. Different regions of Ireland have their own twist to the brown bread. For example in the northern region it is known as Whiten bread where as in the south they prepare brown soda bread.
Although they are made using different recipes in their essence they are pretty much the same. Here follow a couple of recipes for Irish brown bread.
Irish Brown Soda Bread
You need to exercise caution when making this brown bread because if your touch is heavy then the bread will become doughy and difficult to handle. Hence you need to employ a light hand. It is a relatively simple recipe but you should stick to the ingredients as mentioned without trying to incorporate anything fancy.
The best thing to do is to make use of white and wholemeal flour half and half. This helps to make the bread lighter. Along with the two types of flour you will need baking soda, salt and butter milk.
Make sure you preheat your oven to 450F before you start making the dough. Next start off with placing the whole meal flour into a mixing bowl while adding the sieved white flour, sugar, salt and bread baking soda. Mix all the ingredients well. Make a well in the center and pour in some buttermilk. Use your fingers to draw the flour into the milk and mix them with an extremely light touch. Make a soft dough ball in the process adding more milk if necessary. Care must be taken not to make the dough too sticky.
Next you will place the dough on a floured surface and give an oval shape with a 3 inch thickness. Now cut a large cross in its surface and immediately place it in the oven. Bake it at full heat for ten minutes and then set the oven low. Bake for another 40 minutes. Check the bread by knocking on its surface. If it sounds to be hollow then that means it’s done.
Irish Wholemeal Bread
This Irish brown bread has a slightly different flavor and technique to the above mentioned recipe. Whereas the above recipe produces a dry loaf type bread this one is far more moist. It also has a nutty flavor to it.
Irish brown bread is enjoyed to its fullest if consumed along with smoked salmon or any other kind of seafood item. On the contrary you will even be able to enjoy it with butter and a cup of tea.
If you want to get the original taste of the Irish brown bread then you need to make sure you use Irish ingredients only. This will make the whole difference otherwise your bread will taste like any other ordinary bread. This is why sometimes people fail to see the difference between Irish brown bread and regular brown bread. Butter in particular makes a lot of difference. Hence if you crave for the traditional Irish flavor then go for Irish ingredients as well.
