Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day With This Irish Brown Bread Recipe
Although a day of revelry dedicated solely to pub crawls and green beer can be a rousing good time, it’s the next day that usually isn’t one to tweet about. This year, do yourself a favor — nix the cheap beer or endless pints of Guinness and head to the kitchen for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration featuring a rustic, wholesome, whole-grain loaf of Irish Brown Bread.
This Irish Brown Bread recipe is easy enough to be perfect for the novice baker. This “no yeast” loaf is oven ready in less than 15 minutes and lends itself to creating an authentic Irish meal.
Breakfast: Mop up your eggs with a nutritious wedge of Irish Brown Bread slathered with butter, jam or honey.
Dinner: Serve along side this classic Irish Beef Stew for a hearty meal.
Appetizer: Get your Irish on with this easy-to-make canapé. Top a slice of Irish Brown Bread with sweet Irish butter, smoked salmon and a sprinkle of fresh chives.
You’ll have no regrets when you celebrate St. Patty’s day with the good stuff!
- 2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup toasted wheat germ
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.
- In a large bowl, combine flours, wheat germ, salt, sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar.
- Using a pastry blender or your fingers, blend in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the buttermilk and stir until a soft dough forms.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth, about three minutes. (Add a tablespoon or so of flour if your dough is too sticky.)
- Gently press the dough into the prepared cake pan.
- Cut an X, ½ inch by 5 inches long, into the top of the dough with a sharp knife.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until light brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.
Irish or Irish-at-heart, how do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? —Karen