Irish Brown Bread Recipe

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Looking for a hearty and quick whole wheat bread recipe? This Irish Brown Bread is delicious, quick and easy, the perfect addition to complete any meal!

Looking for a hearty and quick whole wheat bread recipe? This Irish Brown Bread is delicious, quick and easy, the perfect addition to complete any meal! #irishbrownbread #quickbreads #irishsodabread #homemadebread #wholewheatbread

Irish Brown Bread

Whether you are on a budget, want to eat healthier, or just trying to round out a meal, a good loaf of bread can really save the day. Homemade and whole wheat? Even better! The problem is that bread usually takes a long time to make, even if it is simple and more of a waiting game than hard work. Your average loaf takes around four hours to mix, rise, bake and cool. This can be quite inconvenient if you are busy or in a hurry (or just plum forgot about dinner, which is usually my case!). That’s when this hearty whole-wheat soda bread comes to the rescue. It’s thrown together in a flash, with no kneading or rising!

Prefer a quick, sweet bread? Try one of these 18 Absolutely Delightful Quick Sweet Bread Recipes

Toasted and slathered with butter, this bread is amazing with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It both stretches the meal out further and helps make it even more filling. And really, is there anything more satisfying than a steaming bowl of soup with homemade bread on a cold, wintery evening?

If you’re part of the I-forgot-about-dinner-and-it’s-five-o’clock crowd, then serve it with a fried egg topped with shredded cheddar cheese and you’ve got yourself a hearty meal in under ten minutes. Even the humdrum peanut butter and jelly can take center-stage when made with this bread (served with a big glass of cold milk, of course). No matter how you slice it (pun intended), a homemade loaf of whole wheat bread is a cook’s secret weapon.

Brown Bread

Irish Brown Bread Recipe

Adapted from Gourmet, March 2004
Makes 1 loaf

What You Need:

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • ½ cup wheat germ, toasted
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut up
  • 2 cups buttermilk

How to Make Irish Brown Soda Bread:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or 9×2-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the two types of flour, wheat germ, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs.

LHL

Add the buttermilk to the bowl and stir to combine. Using a firm spatula or a wooden spoon, fold the dough over onto itself in the bowl many times. This is how I ‘knead’ the dough. It should take just a minute or two for it to start coming away cleanly from the side of the bowl.

Press the dough into your prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes for the round, 1 hour for a loaf.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then take the loaf out and transfer to a cooling rack. The bread will cut easier if you let it cool until warm, but it can also be eaten right away.

Need to print this to add to your Recipe Binder? Get the Brown Soda Bread  Recipe below:

Irish Brown Bread Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • ½ cup wheat germ toasted
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 stick cold unsalted butter cut up
  • 2 cups buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan or 9x2-inch round cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the two types of flour, wheat germ, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs.
  3. Add the buttermilk to the bowl and stir to combine. Using a firm spatula or a wooden spoon, fold the dough over onto itself in the bowl many times. It should take just a minute or two for it to start coming away cleanly from the side of the bowl.
  4. Press the dough into your prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes for the round, 1 hour for a loaf.
  5. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then take the loaf out and transfer to a cooling rack. The bread will cut easier if you let it cool until warm, but it can also be eaten right away.

If you like this Irish Brown Bread recipe, you should try one of these delicious bread recipes next:

Find even more yummy Bread Recipes From Scratch.


Trying to plan better, more frugal meals for your family so that you always have a warm meal on the table and aren’t wasting money at the grocery store? You’ve got to check out my ebook Meal Planning Made Simple. Even if you thought meal planning didn’t work for your family, this ebook will help you find the perfect fit for your family’s style.

 

Have you ever made Irish Brown Bread before? What is your favorite way to enjoy it?
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This Irish Brown Bread Recipe was originally published on Little House Living in January 2013. It has been updated as of January 2020.

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7 Comments

  1. You can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let it sit for ten minutes. That’s what I normally do since I never have buttermilk around either!

  2. I tried this bread tonight, I used all all purpose flour And swapped the bran for flax meal because that was what I had on hand. Very yummy bread! Would be a great breakfast bread with jelly or use it for biscuits and gravy.
    Thanks for sharing
    Holly

  3. Is wheat germ vital for this recipe?? Or something you can use in place?? It’s proving a little hard to find unless I want to order it online.
    Thank you 😊