Irish Brown Bread a la Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

Irish brown bread, just baked.

Last fall, my husband and I enjoyed the International Food & Wine Festival (the kids, not so much). I bought a cookbook as a memento.

Irish bread dough after the dough hook was done with it!

You won’t be surprised to learn that I’m always on the lookout for awesome cookbooks, and I happened upon a compilation of tested recipes for the home cook at Epcot, aptly named Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Cookbook.

Being part Irish, I love bread, and was happy to find a recipe for Irish brown bread in that cookbook. Despite my best efforts, my new cookbook got shelved until just recently, when I finally made sure I had all the needed ingredients to make the Irish brown bread. Even better, I realized after reading the recipe that I could do it in my Kitchen Aid mixer using my dough hook, instead of kneading the dough by hand!

Bread dough in the pan, with oatmeal in center, ready to bake.

This is a very easy bread to make. I think what took the longest is getting all my dry ingredients together. Twenty minutes, and I had the bread dough in the pan, and in the 400 degree oven.

This Irish brown bread is delightful; it’s rustic and a little sweet from the dark brown sugar it contains. Perfect as an appetizer, as one of my favorite Downtown Disney restaurants, Raglan Road, serves it, or alongside a meat and potatoes dinner. Apparently this Irish brown bread is delicious with a cold glass of Guinness beer. I’ll leave that assessment up to you beer drinkers out there.

Irish Brown Bread~recipe from 2009 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Cookbook

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking Irish oatmeal, plus 1 tablespoon (not instant oatmeal; I used 1-minute quick cooking Quaker Oats oatmeal)
• 1/4 cup wheat or oat bran (I used oat bran)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (make sure to use dark, not light sugar)
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x4x3-inch loaf pan.

(Following are my directions to make the bread using a stand mixer; feel free to make the bread by hand, as the original recipe instructs).

1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour through dark brown sugar) in a bowl. Stir with fork to blend. Attach dough hook to stand mixer, and then pour dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Blend dry ingredients on low for up to a minute.
2. Combine canola oil and buttermilk in a measuring cup.
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk and oil mixture into the ‘well.’ Combine for 1-2 minutes on low using the dough attachment, or until a soft dough forms. Continue to combine until the dough is smooth.
4. Scrape batter into greased pan, and using the back of a metal spoon, make a 1/2-inch long well down the middle of the dough. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon of oatmeal along the center.
5. Bake 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when placed into middle of bread. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack in the bread pan for 10 minutes.

What’s your favorite bread to make as an accompaniment to dinner? And are you contemplating attending the next Food & Wine Festival at Epcot this fall?

Photo by Kelly Estes