When my husband and I first started dating, I understood about every third word that came out of his mouth. Or, if he were telling this story, he’d say, “every turd word…out of my mout“. His accent was pretty tick back den. He grew up smack in the middle of Ireland, in County Westmeath, where people don’t like to pronounce their ‘th’s’. Instead, three becomes ‘tree‘, thin becomes ‘tin‘, though becomes ‘dough‘ and I become crazy trying to translate English to, umm…English. Don’t even get me started about the year he turned ‘turty-tree-and-a-turd’.
Luckily, not a single ‘t’, nor ‘h’ plays a part in Irish Brown Bread.
Though I shouldn’t worry – little is muttered from my Irishman’s mouth when he sniffs out freshly baked Brown Bread. (Not to be confused with Irish Soda Bread, which is purely an Americanized version and does not exist anywhere in Ireland). He can freakishly devour an entire loaf with silent precision and speed. Slathered with a good helping of salted Irish butter and homemade jam for breakfast, topped with smoked salmon, capers and red onions for lunch and served along side a bowl of soup for a light supper are his favorite variations. I like mine served simply – warm with butter, along side a big cup of Barry’s Irish tea.
It happens to be Paddy’s Day, but this Irish Brown Bread is baked year round, tru tick and tin, in dis house. Irish eyes are smiling for it.
Irish Brown Bread, yields 1 loaf
I never have buttermilk when I need it, but for this bread, as the luck of the Irish would have it – Homemade Buttermilk only requires two ingredients I always have on-hand, and produces a far tastier and superior tasting loaf than its pricier supermarket equivalent.
Another thing I love about this brown bread is that I can wake up in the morning, and a mere hour later, pull a fresh loaf of bread out of the oven, just in time for breakfast. Yeast-free, speedy as can be and like Lucky Charms – magically delicious.
Music Pairing: John McCormack, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, preferably stone ground (the coarser, the better)
- 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup finely ground old fashioned oats
- 1 1/3 cups whole milk
- 1/3 cup apple-cider vinegar
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking pan with parchment paper. For Homemade Buttermilk: Mix milk and vinegar in a small bowl, and let stand until thickened, about 5-10 minutes.
Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in ground oatmeal.
Pour milk mixture into flour mixture; stir until dough just holds together but is still sticky. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently about 4-5 times. Pat, press and shape dough gently into a round, dome-shaped loaf, about 6-7 inches in diameter. Transfer to prepared baking pan.
Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top, 3/4 inch deep. Bake, rotating halfway through, until loaf is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool on wire rack.
I’ve been meanin’ ta give tis a try fur sum time! ;)
Clearly, this has been well-tested, and well-approved. I’ll turn here first when the time comes.
Lol!! I love your anecdotes about accents! And LOVE those shots of the organic milk bottle—I always wonder why they stop doing that. And love that shot of the bread too….so beautiful and rustic yet simple!
Thanks for leaving a gorgeous comment on my blog—I’m all the more flattered that it’s coming from you!!
This looks wonderful and you guys are even more of the cutest couple ever than I thought.
Wonderful story, beautiful bread. My son also loves this milk, he wouldn’t drink other milk other then the milk from Strauss.
Your soda bread looks wonderful!
Cheers,
Rosa
I never knew that soda bread was an American thing…but I think this bread looks even better than the soda bread recipes I’ve been seeing. I’m a sucker for homemade bread, but I always use yeast. I just may have to try this one with baking soda…sounds great. “Tanks” for sharin’ ;)
Hilarious! My man’s parents still pronounce ‘t’ instead of ‘th’ (one of our first Christmases together his ma kept telling me about these ‘termal’ gloves, it took me a while to realize it wasn’t a funny sounding name brand). And she makes THE BEST brown bread. I love it with just butter :)
What a perfect recipe for the occasion :) The bread looks beauuutiful.
happy paddy’s day to you and your husband ! (no th’s in that phrase to have fun with though, ha ha)
mmm, i am just imagining that bread coming out of the oven… served with smoked salmon, soup or just salted butter for me, all sounds good. i always had kerrygold salted irish butter when i lived in ny. sadly, never had “real” brown bread, just the americanized soda bread. might have to try your recipe here ! now *TAT* sounds like an idea. tee hee
such a fun post, love it ! :)
This looks really good. I’ve been searching high and low for one I lost that had dill in it. I might try this though…with and without dill :). Oh and P.S. We like Strauss too. Aren’t those bottles the bomb?? I tried thier egg nog during the holidays too and loved it.
What a simple bread! That is the way milk should come, just as fresh as can be!
Looks delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed your “translation” in this post. Made me think of the movie, P.S. I Love You…
I too am married to a true Irish man (from Tipp town in Tipperary). Even though I am a southern girl who has been known to say y’all, his accent has rubbed off on me and occasionally a “tanks” rather than “thanks” slips out. He used to bake his brown bread every day, but could not keep from eating up the whole loaf at once so we had to cut him off. :)
Tanks for a beautiful post and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Add me to the list of those who married an Irishman (well, of Irish decent, in my case). As a group, they’re pretty dreamy. Your bread’s not too shabby, either!
The downside to this bread is that instead of a slice or two, one is prone to making the whole loaf disappear.
As always, amazing photography.
This looks like a tasty multi-purpose and healthy bread. The pics are beautiful!
I can’t stop smiling. What a great post!
This bread looks absolutely wonderful, and I think I might even be able to make it successfully! I never seem to have much luck with yeast-risen bread except in the bread machine.
This is DEFinitely on the menu tonight!! Will be on the blog tomorrow..thanks so much!!
Great song, great recipe and wonderful story!
I love that Irish accent, it’s so rustic and friendly!
I agree about making your own buttermilk, you just make as much as you need, so there’s no leftovers. The bread looks beautiful!
Hi, hi! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!
Christy, Elra and Cathy, I’m so happy to find a coalition of Straus Family milk lovers! The cream on top, the aroma, the BOTTLE – I’m smitten through and through.
Katie, Kerrin and The Rowdy Chowgirl, It’s the best yeast-free, no waiting, no mess, no fuss, bread recipe, in my humble opinion! The sweet American Irish Soda Bread with currants and such doesn’t a candle to this earthy, hearty and nutty Brown Bread. My husband swears it tastes exactly like the bread he grew up with in Ireland.
Amanda and Jess, I’m giggling with you. I slip up and say ‘tanks’ too – all the time. Asian girl with an Irish accent.
Hope you enjoy it, Ashley! And don’t forget that Irish butter.
OMG too funny!! I definitely used Irish butter. It just came out of the oven. I followed the recipe to a T [not typical for me ;)] but cut it in half for 2 loaves. OMG…this bread is DANGerous and WAY to easy to make!! It’s completely amazing. I used stoneground whole wheat flour + made my own buttermilk. Now if I could just get my photography as gorgeous as yours we’d be all set, hehe. Thanks SO much for sharing this recipe and for the adorable story about your husband. My huz + I honeymooned in Ireland for 10 days and had a blast. We went all over the country including up to N.Ireland where we stayed with a family we know for a few days. Loved every minute of it.
Thanks for the recipe. I have a loaf in the oven now and look forward to taking it tonight’s festivities along with the white bread loaf I baked earlier today.
Wonderful post, full of fun, great photos and a delicious recipe on top of it. You are adorable! I’ve never heard about this bread until today! And I heard about and saw a lot of them today :) As I’m still not very familiar with bread baking, this recipe looks like an ideal one for me! Happy St. Patrick’s Day Giao!
The Little People Strike again!
What a lovely lovely post. The bread is beautiful, of course, but your sweetness about your husband is wonderful. I LOVE that accent and am jealous you get to hear it every day! :)
why oh why didn’t I read this BEFORE making a couple loaves of Irish Soda Bread today! Oh well, I will try and enjoy them with my mushroom barley soup for dinner and then once they are all gone I will be making a REAL loaf of Irish Brown Bread;)
yeah for homemade bread!
xo
p.s. I’m watching my daughter dip a piece of your Hurricane Ridge Banana Bread into a bowl of mushroom & barley soup. Can’t say it’s a combo I’d like to try.
gorgeous photos, and such a hilarious post. this bread looks killer. i am trying to get more into the habit of making my own bread at home and this one’s going right to the top of the list.
[…] So I decided to make Irish Brown Bread, which I had never had before. After seeing it on Kiss My Spatula’s blog today, I knew I HAD to make it. I was planning on making a whole wheat flax bread for […]
Thanks a lot for this super easy recipe. I will try this sunday. I love baking all sorts of bread sweet and salty. I particularly like the homemade buttermilk idea. I grind my own flour and I found out how nice soda works only recently when I started making dutch poffertjes. Most of all I like the speed of the whole affair. My family loves homebaked bread, particularly sunday mornings and I am the one who has to get up to make it. Now I can sleep in a little longer this sunday and will see what they say. If it turns out the way I expect I hope you won’t mind if I share it with my readers of course mentioning where I got it from and link it back to you. Thanks again and I love reading your posts. They always make me smile.
Greetings from the centre of Germany
Christa
Looks wonderful G and I love how hearty and crusty it is without yeast and all the time. Beautiful photography as always.
Beatuiful pictures! I am married to an Irish man as well, but he has a midwesterner accent! LOL I wanted to make an soda bread but the whiskey cake talked me into making it! Hope you are doing well! :)
This bread looks like it would be delicious slathered with sweet butter, and makes me think I may have to venture into the scary world of bread making someday soon.
Tanks, indeed. I love this post and have been begging a friend for their Cork family’s delicious brown bread recipe with no luck, so I’m going to give yours a try very soon!
oh and I meant to say, I love it just the way you do, right down to the Barry’s!
love the writing, so funny. Great way to start the day.
Absolutely marvelous brown soda bread recipe! The soda bread I make makes no claim to be truly Irish, but is only an Americanized version. Yours is the real thing and I will make it next year for certain!
fantastic looking bread! Love the shot of the bread with the X in, sitting on a baking sheet. Lovely color work too!
This looks wonderful. I’m sure it would be great for breakfast, or with soup, or a nice salad. And it’s speedy. Nice!
Thanks for the recipe and inspiration! I tried it and it turned out great. In fact, I blogged about it here: http://ellenitza.blogspot.com. Stop by when you have a minute.
What a beautiful recipe! Your website is a breath of fresh air, and a celebration of joy to the senses. Eating well and eating right are one and the same. Thank you, Roxanne B Sukol MD, writing at Your Health is on Your Plate dot com
Love your photographic eye!
I made this after Ashley from The Edible Perspective sent me the link. I’m also in love with this!!!! Even though I used sea salt because I had run out of kosher salt so it was a bit salty (oops!), it was still delicious. Great texture!!! I’m definitely making this again this weekend!
ALL your recipes and photos look SOOO delicious!! It’s food porn!
Ashley, ellenitza and Teri, YAY! Thanks for reporting back and I’m SO happy you all enjoyed this little slice of Ireland! Don’t you love how addictingly simple it is? More for the weekend, indeed.
Blake, Hope your loaf made it to your festivities for the night!
Sarka and hungreynovelist, Jump in and give bread making a try! I promise you’ll be hooked.
Thanks so much, Christa – and I’ll be thinking of you Sunday morning.
Dana, He brings sweetness to my life…each and every day. I’m a lucky, lucky girl (awwh, shucks).
Colleen, We’ll sit down for a cup of Barry’s when you make your first loaf.
Lara, I’m privileged to be a small part of your morning!
Happy Friday and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend (filled with fresh baked loaves of goodness)!
TANKS again for all the lovely notes. Always so fun to ‘chat’ with you here. Love, G.
I love brown bread, and this looks amazing. Will try this soon. And your story put a smile on my face – I still have problems with the Irish accent after 7 years of being in UK!
Thank you for this recipe! I had a strange affection for this lovely brown bread when I was in Ireland, but haven’t been able to find a decent recipe since. This will definitely bring back wonderful memories!
Perfect timing! I went to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day. Lots of brown bread and Kerrygold butter around to keep me happy!
Yummy! Just returned from Ireland. Excited to re-create some of my favorite eats!
What a lovely brown bread – your pictures are gorgeous too!
Love your story and the bread looks beautiful.
Lol! Are you sure your husband is not West Indian? Sounds similar to our accent. At least he’ll have no problem understanding us should he ever visit. Recently some exchange US music students invited children to ask questions about the musical instruments that they had demonstrated. “What is dat ting dere?” Needless to say the Americans didn’t understand the dialect. Even more confusing are the Jamaicans who leave off the h’s and put an h before vowels. Thus ‘otel for hotel but (h)egg for egg or (h)ambulance ! One thing that’s not confusing is that your recipe looks absolutely delicious:-)
yum I’ve never tried brown bread
Thank you – I’ve been looking for the good Irish bread recipe
Great story about your husband and the accent. The bread is beautiful and looks much better than New England Brown Bread!! :>)
So I’m going through Design Sponge, and who do I see, but YOU! Nice pictures! Glad to see you are doing so well. Hope to hear back,
Nicole
Love it, you and your husband sound so sweet together. I made some soda bread for St. Paddy’s day too; so good and way too easy!
Great recipe. Does soda bread really not appear anywhere in Ireland? I always thought it was a bread made with baking powder and buttermilk over there…
Also, I’ve probably said this before, but I adore your blog. :)
I meant baking soda, not powder! :X
I just made this on Sunday, to go with my traditional split pea soup, and it was fantastic–and just as good the next mornin’ with some apricot jam and sharp cheddar. An Irish girl by history if not by birth, it was a great comfort food. Thanks for posting!
I love this post- it made me laugh.
Your bread looks delicious; the crumb looks perfect. It also sounds fairly healthy, with the whole wheat flour and oats. Yum!
Great story, can’t wait to try the bread!
Great story, so sweet– and beautiful bread! It looks so hearty, wonderful texture.
Funny! Have you ever heard of a variation using steel cut oats in this bread? I have an English (I know, I know – the Irish might scoff, but being mostly English and Irish myself, I try to stay open minded (:) cookbook that swears by an original recipe using steel cut oats – and it is very good and has similarities to your recipe in the other ingredients. This looks delicious, I will be giving it a try soon!
oh my goodness. your blog is SO beautiful! the pictures look delicious! not to mention the food…
With your photos – what lens do you tend to use? And what do you do for your post-processing? They are so lovely.
hope tings are better now! Great bread!
Wow, this is a nice loaf of bread!
Thank you for sharing this! I went to Ireland in September and fell in love with this bread, but you really cannot find it anywhere in America. I’ll just have to make my own.
Always wanted to, but for some reason never made soda bread. Yours is gorgeous…
G you are so impressive — I have never had IRish Brown Bread but man does this look good! Your husband is one lucky man :)
I love the milk bottle! I have just recently attempted to make breads (again) and I’m enjoying the process so far. I’ve never made irish soda bread.. though I can’t fathom how it might taste without yeast.
First time on your blog. I think I’m about to eat my computer monitor. Your photos are a feast for my eyes.
Now if we only had a distributor in the US for the Irish whole meal flour, my relatives and friends would have lighter suitcases when returning home from visiting Ireland!
This cracked me up! I love the accent thing.
Hope you come back with more yummy recipes and pictures soon!
Thanks so much for the DMBLGIT award! It has been an honour to receive it!
Such a funny and entertaining post……. and this recipe is a real keeper :-)
Sawadee from Bangkok,
Kris
I never knew you could make buttermilk like that – good to know!
My hubby is only half Irish (his mom’s from Cork), but I take that as an excuse to go whole hog on things like this. This is my fifth brown bread recipe and I have high hopes about its outcome! (It’s in the oven right now.) I’m using Graham Flour – it’s pretty great!
[…] — If you want to make something super-simple and yummy, try this recipe for Irish Brown Bread. Love the blog name (ha!) and love the food pictures…they put […]
Hi,
I absolutely love your recipies and your blog, but is there any possibility that you might also write all the measurements in grams/liters/cm/centigrade in the future?
What a great looking recipe. I had no idea Irish soda bread was American.
I usually use yoghurt instead of buttermilk, for my Irish Soda bread: But I’m quite curious to try your way… Thanks!
Sabrine
This blog is GORGEOUS! I love it and it makes me want to learn to cook!
Love
Aimee
x
This is hysterical. I love the story about your husbands accent. I can just hear him speaking…. This is a great looking bread. Cant wait to try it….
missing you over here!
what a great post, this really made me smile. have you been making more of this? we miss you already!
This is hands down the loveliest Irish Brown Bread upon which I’ve ever laid eyes. GORGEOUS! I love an Irish accent too. My father, who is now passed away, had the best Irish accent. I miss it!
Was thinking about you just now and wanted to say I miss your posts! Hope all is well and you’re enjoying summer. : )
Am ditching my wheat-free diet for this one. YUM!
this is one of the best and most refreshing posts I’ve read in a while… couldn’t help chuckling too over your irish lilt ;) My boyfriend is israeli and I’m continually teasing him over the way he says “availabell” and vegetabell. hehehe
He’s inspired my kitchen antics too as I now make a mean falafel & fresh hummus… next step… pita bread… YUMM!!
Fabulous fabulous blog, officially adding you to the list!
thea.
xx
(www.spoonfulzine.com)
i just found you and so glad i have! your photography is beautiful!
Found this blog on foodista! I am going to sign up and read your blogs :)
I know I’m late to the party with my cinnebt, but my eyes flew open as I was scrolling through your recent blog posts and saw…Brown Bread! I’ve only experienced the rich, nutty, substantial goodness that is this bread on my two short trips to Ireland, but I am forever one of its biggest fans. I think I ate my way through a loaf every two days while I was there. I will be making this and soon!
okay, I clearly meant “comment” not ” “cinnebt”! That’s what I get for not looking down when I type.
I loved this. I lived in Ireland for many years so your comments and quips made me laugh and feel a bit homesick at the same time. Question for you – I also make brown soda bread but I have not been able to find the same coarse meal flour that exists in Ireland. I live in Vancouver, Canada now.
Any tips?
Hi Helena – I’ve run across the same problem. You’d have to go to an Irish specialty store to find the real deal, but in a pinch, Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat flour here in the US works just fine. Hope that helps!
Bob’s Red Mill is also my fallback. Thanks!
Thank you! I’ve been wondering which flour would work best since I can’t find any whole meal anywhere, and have been crazy about brown bread since going to Ireland last June. Is the amount of oatmeal measured before or after it is ground? Thank you!
Kathy H
[…] baked Irish Brown Bread (to warm up the house), and I did some […]
[…] Irish Oatmeal Brown Bread Adapted very minimally from Kiss My Spatula […]
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’m a year late to the party, but I made it earlier this week and it turned out pretty awesome for my first bread-baking attempt ever.
Also, I’m in love with your photography on this site — it has definitely inspired me to really start practicing with my own camera. Thanks again!
this looks so yummy! Ive bookmarked it ready to get the ingredients next time I brave the supermarket, thanks! Belle
I made this last night! My husband was pleasantly suprised when he returned from fishing. We both thought it was delicious. Thank you for helping me suprise my husband!
[…] But just a heads up if this happens to you!]If you aren’t gluten free, check this recipe for Irish Brown Bread. It’s just as easy and just as delicious. I made it a few years back and loved […]
[…] Irish brown bread recipe I used is super easy [I'm actually surprised I didn't have to wash bowls and […]
thanks for the recipe :) I used a mixture of yogurt and milk for the buttermilk. Freshly ground whole wheat and oats… yum.
My husband is Irish too, from Tipp, and I used to live in Limerick. It makes both of us so happy to have good brown bread here in the States, tastes like home!