Guinness Beer Bread (Irish Brown Bread with Guinness & Oats)

Guinness bread loaf with oats on top is shown sliced on a cutting board with focus on the dense crumb of the loaf.

Guinness Beer Bread (Irish Brown Bread with Guinness & Oats)

Authentic Irish recipe for brown bread with oats for texture and Guinness stout and molasses for deeply satisfying flavor. This type of quick beer bread is baked fresh and served daily to guests at many bed and breakfast establishments in Ireland.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 50

Servings: loaf

Calories: 312kcal

Author: Milena Perrine

Ingredients

5 tablespoon unsalted butter melted + more to grease the loaf pan*
12 oz Guinness Extra stout or another Irish stout**
1 cup buttermilk**
1 tablespoon molasses aka black treacle
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour***
1 cup quick oats****
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Make sure that the Guinness and buttermilk are at room temperature*. Heat the oven to 400 F. Grease a loaf pan (9 x 5) with butter.
In a bowl pour the Guinness. Add the melted butter, buttermilk and molasses and whisk until well combined. Set aside.
In another bowl combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and powder and salt. Stir well together and make a well in the middle of the mixture.
Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir into a batter. Transfer to the greased loaf pan, smooth on top and sprinkle with oats (optional).
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until nicely risen and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the brown bread to cool down completely before you slice it.

Video

Notes

*Do your best to use unsalted Irish butter. If you only have salted, eliminate the salt from the recipe entirely (it may still be a bit salty to your taste).

**If the stout and buttermilk are too cold the wet ingredients will not mix well and you will need to warm up the entire mixture and whisk them until well incorporated. Shake the buttermilk before you measure it out and leave on the counter for a bit to come to room temperature.

***For a really authentic loaf we recommend Odlums wholemeal coarse flour. It is produced by stone grinding the whole wheat grain - nothing is added or taken out and therefore the bran content is high, the texture coarse.

****You can use rolled or steel cut oats, the latter will give you a coarser texture. If you want to use authentic Irish oats, we recommend Mcann's Irish Oatmeal.

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