Friday, 25 June 2010

a return to the old country with Guinness Brown Bread

so how does one celebrate stepping back into the Emerlad Isle after an absence of 2 years? well what better way than with some Guinness Brown Bread. when it comes to Guinness, i am very proud to say that us Irish are a bunch of snobs...yes, that's right, there is such a thing as a Guinness snob...basically no Irish person would ever really enjoy a pint of the 'black stuff' beyond the Emerald Isle...and even within the Emerald Isle itself there are certain pubs where we would go purely to drink Guinness because of the way the pint is 'pulled' from the tap. it is a culture to really enjoy my return to the 'old country' i needed to incorporate some of the black stuff into my baking to truly get back into the mood...the bread turned out delicious. it was rich and full of the flavour of the Guinness. if i made this again though, i wouldn't add the demerara sugar because i think it made it too sweet and less bread-like and with the treacle already added i think it provides enough sweetness to the bread. and according to others who have tasted Guinness bread, it should be a tad i would need to re-think how to darken the bread some more because it didn't appear dark enough for my liking. but overall i was really pleased with the result...with no eggs or yeast in this recipe, it both rose and was of a traditional irish bread density.

Guinness Brown Bread

450g coarse wholemeal

2 level teaspoons bread soda

25g pinhead oatmeal

4 tablespoons demerara sugar

50g margarine

1 tablespoon treacle

400 ml guinness

preheat oven to 190C and lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin

put margarine and treacle in a saucepan and allow margarine to melt

meanwhile put wholemeal, oatmeal and sugar into bowl. sieve in bread soda and mix well

when margarine has melted add guinness and stir

add liquid to dry ingredients and mix well

transfer to tin and bake for about 40-50 minutes until risen

wrap in a clean cloth and allow to cool.

eat slathered with good creamy know you want to...