Food with JP Passion: Guinness & Treacle Bread
I watched Nigella Lawson make a version of stout or Guinness Bread on her show Cook, Eat, Repeat which she called her ‘No knead Black Bread’ and served it with smoked salmon.
It got me thinking I would like to research some recipes and try making a loaf of this bread as it’s a no knead no yeast bread of which I am always a fan of making! I took inspiration from Avoca having received one of their cookbooks ‘A year at Avoca’ as a gift.
As Ireland’s famous stout and black treacle goes into the bread I prefer to call it Guinness & Treacle bread instead of Black Bread.
This is a little sweeter than normal brown bread with the inclusion of treacle but utterly decadent and delicious.
I recommend when you make this for the first time serving it with some smoked fish like salmon or mackerel or to dip into homemade soups! Also delicious lathered in real butter and Jam!
Ingredients: Makes 1 loaf
- 125g Strong white flour
- 1 teaspoon bread soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 45og coarse wholemeal flour
- 200ml buttermilk
- 100g black treacle
- 100ml Guinness / Stout
- 15g porridge oats
Method:
- Line a loaf tin with baking parchment paper and preheat your oven to 200 degrees / Gas Mark 6/ 400F.
- In a large mixing bowl sieve together the strong white flour, bread soda and salt. Then add the wholemeal flour.
- Make a well in the middle and add the buttermilk, treacle and Guinness and mix gently together with a wooden spoon. Once combined pour the mixture into your prepared tin and sprinkle with porridge oats on top of the loaf.
- Pop into the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees / Gas Mark 4 / 350F and bake for a further 35 minutes.
- Then remove from the tin and bake for a further 5 minutes until the loaf sounds hollow – then you know it’s fully cooked.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing – this loaf will last for 2-3 days in an airtight container. For any leftovers you can pulse to make black breadcrumbs and freeze for another day!
I always enjoy baking and cooking more cosy and warming cakes, breads and meals at this time of year – I like to try different winter recipes.
It always helps that I usually have sourced a number of new cookbooks throughout the year to research and get inspiration from.
I always tend to lean to quick, delicious family inspired recipes so I’ve planned over the coming weeks and months some exciting new recipes to share with you all.
I hope you all come on the journey with me and give these recipes a go!
- JP Kennedy
