Guinness Brown Bread

This Guinness brown bread recipe is simple to make, can be made mixing the dough with your hands, so no fancy equipment needed. Sweetened with molasses, buttermilk to keep it moist, and topped with oats for texture. This Guinness bread is perfect for celebrating St. Patrick’s day with!

One of my favorite memories is when I visited Ireland a few years ago. I was taking a graduate program in Galway and once the program was over we headed over to Dublin to see all the sights the city had to offer. And of course, while we were there we had to take a tour of the Guinness factory.

And one of the highlights of that entire trip was being able to treat my parents to joining us as well. Seeing Ireland was one of my mom’s lifelong dreams and I was so happy to be able to present here with that plane ticket. Seeing her tear up and get so excited was such a memorable experience. 

Sitting atop the Guinness storehouse learning how to properly pour this classic Irish stout, and look out over the entire city, with my family, is one memory I’ll cherish forever. So yes Guinness and me have some wonderful times and memories together. 

So I thought why not take this dark Irish Guinness stout and add it to a wonderful brown bread recipe to create a nutty, lighlty sweet bread perfect for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with? Let’s cheer to good decisions! 

See Also:

• Oil vs butter in your quick breads..what’s better? Find out the difference and what I prefer!
• Confused on what the difference is between quick breads and coffeecakes – give this post a read!
• Want to know more about quick breads? Then read this article “What’s quick bread“? and learn more!

Does this Guinness beer bread taste like beer?

The bread does have a wonderful aroma of the dark beer, and you can taste the Guinness but I don’t think it’s overpowering. I think the beer gives the bread a slightly sweet, oat-y, nutty taste going on. Which I adore!

But you could always replace with another dark beer, or if you want it to taste less like beer then replace with some buttermilk.

Why You Will Love This Bread

• No Mixer Needed – You will mix the dough together with your hands to ensure a tender bread.
• Quick To Make – This is a very quick, no yeast bread that’s ready to bake in minutes.
• Perfect Winter Bread – This is the hearty quick bread you want for all your comforting winter meals. 

Ingredients For This Guinness Bread

• Whole wheat flour – Whole wheat flour helps to give this bread a hearty texture
• All-purpose flour – I used just regular all purpose flour for best texture. For best results I suggest weighing your flour with a scale. If you do not own a scale, then make sure to give this post a read on How To Measure Flour.
• Salt – Salt is always needed to help balance all the flavors. I love kosher salt as I think it has a more pure salt taste than regular table salt. You can read more here about The Role Of Salt In Baking.
• Baking powder – This helps give the bread extra lift! Make sure it’s fresh and active by testing some in a bowl of hot water before you start. 
• Baking soda – This will react with the buttermilk in the bread to help provide balanced acid-base reaction and proper rise. Don’t mix it up with baking powder as it won’t react the same. You can read more here about baking powder vs. baking soda. 
• Guinness – This dark beer adds such wonderful flavor and moisture and pairs wonderfully with the molasses in this bread. And the beer actually helps to lighten the bread and give it a little lift as well, since it’s made without yeast.
• Buttermilk – I love the flavor that buttermilk gives to the bread! You can always make your own How To Make Homemade Buttermilk. It won’t have quite the same results but will do just fine. However, regular milk won’t as it won’t react the same with the baking soda.
• Molasses – To help sweeten the bread and give it a depth of flavor.
• Egg – You need one large egg, at room temperature to help bind the dough together and add richness, and to help tenderize. You can add your egg to a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before starting.
• Old fashioned oats – This helps give the bread a bit of texture. You are going to just sprinkle some on top before baking. 

How To Make This Guinness Brown Bread

1. Preheat the oven to 325^oF degrees. Line a 9×5” loaf pan with parchment paper and grease lightly with butter or non-stick spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients – whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, molasses, egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the well. 
4. With your fingers (or a spatula – I’ve done it both ways), 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. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the oats on top.
5. Bake until deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer reads 200^oF, about 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; wrap in a clean towel and let cool on a wire rack. Best served warm.

What To Serve With This Irish Guinness Brown Bread

I love serving this warm from the hot oven slathered with a little Irish butter. Or try spreading on my honey butter recipe for a little hint of sweetness! If you love a little spice, then my cinnamon honey butter would be a wonderful twist to spread on a slice. 

I love serving in the wintertime or for St. Patrick’s Day with some Irish beef stew on the side.

Recipe FAQs

More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

If you are having a St. Patrick’s Day party then why stop at making just some Guinness brown bread? Let’s make some desserts to go with it!

• Chocolate Guinness Cake,
• Mint Oreo Stuffed Bailey’s Cupcakes
• Chocolate Baileys Macarons
• Thin Mint Cupcakes
• Mint Oreo Brownies

If you want to become a better baker, then enroll in my Ultimate Baking Bootcamp class! Enroll here!

Guinness Brown Bread

Guinness brown soda bread recipe made with buttermilk and molasses.

5 from 10 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Irish

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 slices

Calories: 262kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 ¼ cups (281 g) whole wheat flour
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups (150 g ) all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¾ teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ 1 cup (240 mL) Guinness
• ▢ 1 cup (240 mL) buttermilk
• ▢ ¼ cup (85 g) molasses
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons old fashioned oats

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325F degrees. Line a 9×5” loaf pan with parchment paper and grease lightly with butter or non-stick spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, molasses, and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the well.
• With your fingers or a spatula, 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. Spoon the dough into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the oats on top.
• Bake until deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer reads 200oF, about 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; wrap in a clean towel and let cool on a wire rack. Best served warm.

Notes

• Tools: Spatula | 9×5 loaf pan | Mixing bowl
• Storage: Wrap it up in plastic wrap or aluminum foil once it’s cooled completely. It will stay fresh this way for 3-4 days. Or freeze, well-wrapped, for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
• Guinness Substitute: Substitute it with another dark beer or skip beer altogether and use all buttermilk instead. 
• Oats substitute: You can use quick oats or steel cut oats for more texture. 
• Buttermilk: If you don’t have any on hand you can make your own How To Make Homemade Buttermilk

Nutrition

Calories: 262kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 583mg | Potassium: 404mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 82IU | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 3mg

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