Guinness Bread

This bread is a quick bread, no rising or kneading required. The Guinness imparts a subtle yeast flavour to the bread, making it perfect to be slathered with real butter and topped with dressed prawns, smoked salmon or a sharp mature cheese.

The Guinness, well I think it would be fair to say that Guinness is our national drink. That distinctive ebony body, the creamy top and each glass gilded with golden harp, it is synonymous with all things Irish.

Crock Pot Brown Tin Loaf

I made this Brown Tin Loaf a couple of years ago and I really liked it, especially when it is toasted with real butter dripping down the sides.. yum. It is also the ideal bread for toasted sandwiches. With that in mind I thought I should perhaps update the recipe adding a new twist - cooking it in my slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Bread

I was a total skeptic too, how is it that for years I have been preheating my fan oven almost to the point of melting the metal racks! Only to discover that my humble, hard working slow cooker can do the job albeit with one major advantage, both raising and baking the bread and all without any interference from me...score!

Brown Tin Loaf

This is one of my favourite homemade bread recipes, mainly because this bread is beautiful toasted slathered with real butter and a steaming cup of coffee. It is crunchy unlike any sliced loaf you are likely to buy in your local supermarket.
It also is full of fibre, unlike most shop bought "Brown" sliced pans that deceive us into thinking that we are buying healthy bread, when I suspect that some only contain about 5-10% wholemeal, whereas this is 50% wholemeal and if you want you can omit the white flour and go for a full 100% wholemeal loaf or to reduce the fat content substitute the milk for water. I'm sure that not many are going to stop buying bread with the weekly shop in favour of this, but it is worth making at least once if you are feeling jaded by mass produced bread.

Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Salmon

I love smoked salmon and especially on slices of buttered  brown soda bread, a wedge of lemon and a few capers. Sometimes however, there might be a small sliver left over and I feel obliged to secret it away for the next morning's breakfast. This is the prefect breakfast in bed for a special occasion, accompanied with a pot of fresh coffee and toast. Now if you are planning to have a very quick and sustaining breakfast for a large group of people then a whole 400g side with 2 eggs per person should do the job nicely. I perfer not to add salt to my scrambled eggs as I find the salmon is seasoning enough.

 

Serves 1-2

Ingredients

Smoked salmon

2 Eggs, beaten

Splash of milk

Chives, chopped (optional)

Method

Thinly slice the smoked salmon, set aside.Scramble the eggs until soft and remove from the heat. Add the smoked salmon and serve on a warm plate. Serve immediately.

Irish Brown Soda Bread

I found this recipe in an old cook book and I've been using it ever since. It contains buttermilk which is available beside the milk in the larger supermarkets. I get three loaves per carton of buttermilk so I freeze the remaining two loaves. If you're baking and washing up you might as well get three loaves for your trouble!

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

200g Plain flour
200g Plain wholemeal flour
50g rolled oats
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp salt
300mls buttermilk
Extra flour for sprinkling
                             
Method
Preheat oven to 200C/ 350F or Gas Mark 5. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Flour your work surface and tip the wet sticky dough out.

Place the dough into a oiled and floured 1lb tin and slash with a knife or if you don't have a loaf tin, with floured hands shape the dough into a round and use the handle of your wooden spoon to make a deep cross. Transfer to a floured baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes or until risen and golden.

Your brown bread should make a hollow sound when tapped underneath and most importantly wrap the bread in a clean tea towel and cool upside down (it's much easier to slice it later if you let it cool like this).

Beautiful served with Homemade Butter and Rhubarb and Ginger Jam.

Recipe Tip: For non ROI readers Saint Ivel Cultured Buttermilk 284ml is available at www.tesco.co.uk for less than 60p. If needed top up the St. Ivel with full fat milk. Alternatively mix half plain yogurt with half full fat milk. I usually make two loaves at a time and freeze one.