One of my all time favorite meals from our Mother/Daughter trip to Ireland was a bowl of seafood chowder and Irish brown bread, or Irish wheaten bread. It was such a simple meal, but it was so tasty! Below is a picture of that wonderful meal.
We had many wonderful Irish breads during our travels, this one being one of my favorites. So, it's become my mission to try to replicate this bread. It's been a series of trials and errors with recipes, shapes, and loaf pans. The last recipe has a very good flavor, but I'm still not quite happy with the "loft".There are several challenges. First, our ingredients are different than those in Ireland. Second, our loaf pans are not the same dimensions (you can see the shape in the picture above. Their pans are longer and narrower), Thirdly, I'm baking this at high altitude versus sea level.
Let me take you through all three rounds I've gone through so far. Hopefully, my efforts will streamline things for you. I'll also share the recipe that I believe I'll be sticking with while I continue to work on the size/shape of my loafs.
If you do some browsing, you will find a lot of recipes out there. This one, as I mentioned is a brown soda bread or wheaten bread. The classic soda bread has just a few ingredients, and does not include yeast. The leavening comes from buttermilk and baking soda. The best thing, it doesn't invole any kneading either.
My first attempt was classic in the ingredients, and also in the round shape. I even put the cross on the top (look that up, it's a fun story). You know the Winter Olympics event that takes place on the ice, called Curling?, it uses a broom and has this disc (also known as the rock or stone) that slides down the ice? Well, that's what this baby reminded me of. It had a decent flavor, but was very dry and the outer crust was rough and fell apart when I cut into it.
For my second attempt, I chose a different recipe. I found this cute male chef from Ireland on You Tube and used his recipe. He also used loaf pans. (the recipe yields two loaves)
It has a few other ingredients which gives the bread an even better flavor, like a bit of brown sugar and golden syrup (or what we know as honey....isn't that adorable?). As you can see from the pictures, the slices aren't very tall.
My third attempt was to use the same recipe, but I purchased a smaller loaf pan. I did get the same hearty flavor and a little better lift. So, I feel like I'm on the right track. I'm going to continue to work with the size of the loaf pans and I may try to increase the volume of the recipe by another 1/2, which should help fill the pans a bit better (there definitely is room for more batter). In the meantime, I'm going to continue to enjoy what I've made. I chose to slice the loaves and then freeze them so I can just grab a slice (or two) and re-heat them in the microwave as I please. Don't forget to add some butter, and a little bit of golden syrup on top.
My third attempt was to use the same recipe, but I purchased a smaller loaf pan. I did get the same hearty flavor and a little better lift. So, I feel like I'm on the right track. I'm going to continue to work with the size of the loaf pans and I may try to increase the volume of the recipe by another 1/2, which should help fill the pans a bit better (there definitely is room for more batter). In the meantime, I'm going to continue to enjoy what I've made. I chose to slice the loaves and then freeze them so I can just grab a slice (or two) and re-heat them in the microwave as I please. Don't forget to add some butter, and a little bit of golden syrup on top.
Below is the recipe from Chef Adrian that I recommend. I did not make any high altitude adjustments, since I believe the height of the loaf comes down to the pans. The bread is otherwise hearty and moist as is.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 ½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. quick oats
DIRECTIONS:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray or grease two loaf pans (8½ x 4 ½). Sift the flours, soda and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter and honey.
Using a spatula (or clean hands), mix gently and quickly until you have achieved a nice dropping consistency. The mixture should bind together without being sloppy. Don't overwork.
Divide the mixture equally between the loaf tins and sprinkle with the oats. Most homes don't have an oven that can half steam and half bake. So bake these on the top shelf for 45-50 minutes with a tray of water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam. (This added technique of steaming, I feel made a huge difference from the first recipe. My loaves were done in 40 minutes)
Check halfway through that the loaves aren't browning too much. If they are, reduce the temperature or move the loaves down a shelf. When cooked, tip out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
After all, I was in Ireland with my daughter. I was walking in the footsteps of my Mom's ancestors. We had just left the Cliffs of Moher where we were almost blown into the Atlantic and a cold rain had started. We were damp and windblown and tired when we arrived at the lodge. We went down to their dining room (it was mid-day and we hadn't had any lunch) and this meal absolutely hit the spot!
In order to replicate this bread to a T.....it may come down to another trip to Ireland! There is a whole section of Ireland that we didn't get to on our first adventure. Maybe a little Scotland and Northern Ireland this time around.
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