To understand today’s cooking extravaganza, you need to know that I just got back from a work trip to Dublin where I ate more brown bread with delightful Irish butter than seafood (and that’s saying a lot). Our house has also been enveloped in a
GBBO (Great British Bake Off) frenzy as the latest season just started on Netflix. My daughter finally understands the coveted Hollywood Handshake and the thrill of the Signature Bake round.
To that end, I decided that my daughter and I would try two recipes for Irish brown bread - one straight from an Irish friend and one that I found on the Internets. We’d try them side by side, just like Paul and Prue, hoping for a Hollywood Handshake from someone in the family.
Here we go…
Recipe #1 - Irish Recipe
1 ½ c. AP Flour
1 c. of Wheatenmeal (I interpreted this as ¾ c. of whole wheat flour and ¼ c. of wheat germ)
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
¾ c. - 1 ¼ c. buttermilk (I had to use more - probably due to the dry climate here in CA)
Butter to grease baking tin
Preheat oven to 200C/400F and grease a loaf pan with butter.
Put the dry ingredients into a bowl and give a mix.
Add the egg and buttermilk and mix into a dough. [Note: the hand mixer was not ideal here, but my daughter insisted...learn from us]
Put mixture into the baking tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Turn out onto a rack and leave to cool. (Or, be a rebel and eat it warm!)
1⅛ cups (127 g) whole wheat flour
1⅓ cups (85 g) wheat bran
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) baking soda
½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1¼ cups (300 ml) buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 teaspoon) molasses
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and put it on the center oven rack.
Whisk together the whole wheat flour and wheat/oat bran or wheat germ in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the wheat flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Add the butter pieces and rub them into small pieces with the flour mixture using your fingers or a pastry blender, until as small as possible.
Stir in the buttermilk and molasses until the dough is uniformly damp. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead gently, until the dough forms a smooth ball.
Use a sharp serrated knife (or a lame) to slice a cross deeply into the top of the bread, about 1-inch deep. Place the loaf on the hot baking sheet.
Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaf is firm on top and when you tap the bottom, feels hollow.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for about one hour before serving. Again, I was a rebel...I cooled it 10 minutes.
Results!
I have to admit that I missed the instruction to knead dough #2, which accounts for the craggy presentation and lack of a defined cross in the top. But, the flavor of #2 was thrown off a bit by the molasses too much for my taste. I definitely preferred the traditional Irish recipe - it was dense, but nicely flavored and went very well with a thick slather of butter. It would go nicely with smoked salmon or with jam...
I even got handshakes!!
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