Irish Brown Bread

 Had some Irish Brown Bread at the Burren, my fave Irish pub down the road a couple weeks ago. My food was tasty, but I couldn’t stop dreaming about that bread. I wanted to make some of my own. I had all the ingredients on hand except buttermilk, which most recipes call for. I knew that the sourness was probably crucial to getting the taste right. I stumbled upon this recipe, which helped me make homemade buttermilk, so that I could be lazy and not go to the store. The bread came out awesome!!

Here’s the recipe:

Irish Brown Bread

Ingredients:

- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

- 2 1/2 tsp 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 milk (I used 1%)

- 1/3 cup apple-cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make buttermilk by mixing milk and vinegar in a small bowl, and letting it stand until thickened, about 5-10 minutes. (It is kinda of crazy watching this happen!)

3. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.

4. Mix in butter until it resembles coarse meal.  I find it is best to use your hands to do this.

5. Add in milk mixture.

6. Stir dough until it is roughly combined then move to a clean surface.

7. Knead dough until it combines into a nice ball.

8. Move ball to a greased cookie sheet and shapen into a round disk.

9. Cut an X into the top, 3/4 inch deep.

10. Bake for roughly an hour. 

11. Let cool on a wire rack after you have cut off one end to enjoy :)

This bread is going to be awesome all week for quick breakfast as well as on the side of the chili I made!