Irish Guinness Brown Bread

4.91 from 10 votes

The only thing better than drinking a foamy pint of Guinness is eating a slice of Guinness beer bread! Slather it with salted Irish butter and thick jam, and you've got a sweet, salty, malty treat.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: Irish

Servings: (9-inch) loaf (about 12 slices)

Calories: 213kcal

Author: Victoria

Ingredients

1 cup (100 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant), plus extra for sprinkling
2 ¼ cups (280 grams) whole wheat flour
¼ cup (30 grams) all-purpose flour
½ cup (95 grams) packed dark brown sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons (11 grams) baking soda
1 teaspoon (3 grams) baking powder
2 teaspoons (7 grams) kosher salt
1 (11- to 12-ounce) bottle Guinness extra stout beer, preferably at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
5 tablespoons (71 grams) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for brushing the pan
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Salted butter such as Irish Kerrygold

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450°F.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla.
Make a well in center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. With your fingers, a spatula or wooden spoon, stir the batter from the middle of the bowl to the outside, until it’s well mixed. It will look more like cake batter than bread dough.
Brush a 9-by-5-by-2 ½-inch loaf pan with melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with oats.
Put the bread in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 400°F. Bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn the bread out onto a baking rack and allow to cool completely. Slice and serve with salted butter, toasting slices in a toaster oven if desired.

Notes

This recipe uses kosher salt (aka cooking salt, kitchen salt, coarse salt outside of the US). If you are using table salt, definitely scale down the salt as that is a saltier type of salt! The type of salt will make a big difference in how salty your food tastes, so keep that in mind.
Ideally your Guinness beer should be at room temperature for this recipe, however if it's cold it will still work. It will solidify the melted butter (oops) but you can still mix up the batter and the mixture will come together just fine in the end.
This Guinness bread is best served within a few days of baking. After day 1 I typically will toast up the slices in a toaster oven just to freshen them up a bit before serving.
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Nutrition