Crunchy bread (Irish brown bread)

When we were in Ireland we bought Irish brown bread. Jimmy and Mauren LOVED it. So I set out to make my own Irish Brown bread. They called it "Crunchy Bread".

Most recipes I found want you to use Irish wholemeal flour which I learned, is coarser than Canadian flour. I did track this flour down and it is apparently sold at the Scottish and Irish store here in Ottawa. I haven't gotten any yet since I still have Canadian Whole Wheat flour that I need to use up.

I also had to go through a whole conversion process with the recipes since the Irish weigh their ingredients, Canadians measure their ingredients.

Two weeks ago I made a loaf, but never took pictures of it. I did document the recipe though (see below).

Today I made another recipe that I found, and made a few changes, recipe also below.

The first recipe kneads the bread, the second recipe does not knead the bread.

Then I remembered I had actually taken a picture of the label and its ingredients. I now notice that there is no sugar and no fat in the real Irish brown bread. My recipe today had a bit of both. There are a lot of variations on the Internet of course.

Irish brown bread (first recipe)

2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup large oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Heat the oven to 400°F

Grease loaf pan.

Place both flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl combine. Add buttermilk and melted butter and mix with your hands until almost all of the flour is moistened and the dough holds together, about 1 minute.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and turn out the dough. Knead until it forms a fairly smooth ball with no visible pockets of flour, about 1 minute. Place in the prepared pan, using a sharp knife, slice an “X” across the top, edge to edge and about 1/2 inch deep.

You are supposed to bake until the internal temperature registers 190°F to 200°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 35 to 40 minutes. My bread never got to that temperature. It only got to 177°F, and it was still a bit dry. I cooked mine for about 50 minutes. Maybe 45 minutes would be better?

Let cool on a wire rack and cool completely before slicing, about 2 hours.
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Irish brown bread (second recipe)

2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup large oats
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
14 oz well-shaken buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
2 tbsp molasses

Heat the oven to 400°F

Grease loaf pan.

Place both flours, baking soda, oats, and salt in a large bowl combine. Cut butter up into mixture until like breadcrumbs.

Mix buttermilk, egg and molasses together into a measuring cup. Add wet to dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Place in the prepared pan, using a sharp knife, slice a line across the top, edge to edge and about 1/2 inch deep.

Agian you are supposed to bake until the internal temperature registers 190°F to 200°F on an instant-read thermometer and about 35 to 40 minutes. Again my recipe never got to that temperature and I only got it to 172°F on this loaf. When I tested with a tooth pick it was done.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing, about 2 hours. I cooked it for about 55 minutes. Again, I should cook a bit less, maybe 50 minutes.

I will forget about the internal temperature test as it doesn't seem to work, or else my thermometer is stupid. Next time I will just depend on the tooth pick method and insert it until it comes out clean.

People who post recipes on the internet always have all these beautiful multiple shots of their recipes. I just plunk my goods on my stove or counter top and take a picture. I don't know, but I think it makes them look more real? I just may never win the most beautiful staged recipe picture though. How sad.

And yes it is good.