This Irish Guinness Beer Bread recipe is tender, moist and incredibly easy! A little sweet and malty it’s the perfect partner to irish stew!
You probably are wondering why I am posting a recipe using Guinness almost two months before St. Patrick’s Day. But I was so excited about this I couldn’t wait!!
A couple of years ago we went to Ireland and made the obligatory trek to the Guinness Storehouse. Figuring we’d need a little sustenance before imbibing sampling, we decided to have lunch at their restaurant (well, that and we had two teenage boys with us – ’nuff said).
As we sat ogling the panoramic view of Dublin (and trying to decide if a full pint was a wee bit much at lunch!!) the waiter brought us a basket of brown bread to tide us over until our entrees arrived (and probably to help soak up some of those pints we’d decided on!) . But not just any brown bread – it was the best brown bread of the entire trip – and maybe in my whole life.
So there was no question I had to get the recipe – but despite my efforts it was a no – go. The waiter had no idea how the bread was made and the pastry chef in charge of making the bread was off. The recipe book in the gift shop had lots of great Guinness recipes – but no brown bread.
Once home I searched the web- no luck. Although I have a pretty darn good Brown Bread recipe, it isn’t the same as the one I’d had at Guinness.
Sigh.
So, I figured it was just “one of those things” and as they say, “life moves on”. Recently though I was surfing the web and came across the Guinness website and clicked on their recipe section – you know, just in case that brown bread recipe was there.
And it was. Have I mentioned how much I really love the internet?
Needless to say, I ran right out and got some Guinness and set to work on this Irish Guinness Beer Bread. Time hadn’t dulled my affection for this loaf – it was as good as I remembered- and it’s the perfect thing to go with soups, stews and winter salads – or as a little snack, toasted and spread with some good Kerrygold butter and a bit of Dubliner cheese.
Oh, and this Irish Guinness Beer Bread is a “quick bread” – which totally works for me since as you know, I sort of have a problem remembering to make bread.
Do you love quick bread recipes as much as I do? If you do, you should definitely give these recipes a look!
Guinness Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ¼ cups white flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 2 ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 ½ Tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2 cups whole milk
- 7 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. unsulfured molasses
- 1 cup Guinness
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 81/2 x 41/2 loaf pans. the center comes out clean.
- In the bowl of a food processor combine the flours, baking soda and brown sugar with the butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp. of the oats.
- Add the milk, molasses, and the Guinness.
- Stir to combine (the dough will be very wet). Evenly divide the dough between the two loaf pans.
- Sprinkle the tops with the remaining 2 Tbsp. oats. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until the bread is nicely browned and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the loaves cool on a cooling rack. I like to run a butter knife around the edges of the pan so that the loaves come out more easily.
- Serve with a good slather of Irish butter!
This is going on the dinner table soon, since I have all of the ingredients (except for Guinness… ha!) on hand. While I love to bake bread, it’s often too hard to plan for it in a busy schedule. Quick breads that still have that hearty warmth are much appreciated. Hope you’re well, Nancy!
I LOVE when an ‘elusive’ recipe just suddenly shows up – it’s like the 4th of July and X-Mas rolled into one! LOL I can almost taste it just by looking at your beautiful photo – moist, dense, with a toasted oat, deep, slightly sweet flavor. I think I need to file this one away too!
It sounds absolutely AH-MAZING…looks it too. I stumbled it.
This bread looks so amazing. And EASY! I’m printing this out right now. Thanks.
Oh you have my full attention!!! Guinness is my favorite beer, it is soooooo delicious:-) Your bread sounds fun, really great for sandwiches, or just because:-) Love your photos! Hugs, Terra
I’m always baking bread, so far I’ve made french bread, focaccia, savory muffins and others but I’ve never made guinness bread it looks great
I have such fond memories of our trip to Ireland a few years ago, too. We did all the obligatory touristy things, including the storehouse, but also spent days exploring back roads and tiny little villages. I’d go back in a heartbeat. And now I wish we’d had lunch at Guinness. Oh well, at least I can try the bread!
Hi Lana,
We loved Ireland and we hit the back roads as well – spent a couple of nights in Killaloo and Ballina which is where my family is from – husband still has nightmares about those narrow streets though!! Hope you enjoy the bread – with a little Kerrygold it’s “almost” as good as being back in Ireland!
You went to Ireland and didn’t have any brown bread??? Aside from the Irish people, you may have missed the best part. Go back!!!
I am tempted to say eek. Don’t waste the Guinness, but I know in your talented hands this bread is exactly what Guinness was brewed to do. GREG
I know…. it really was a toss up – good thing was I had extra Guinness!!!
LOVED this bread! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!!!
Hello Erin! So glad that you enjoyed the bread!!! Truly makes me happy when people find a recipe that they like!
Such a beautiful hearty looking bread.
Thanks Sylvie – I’ve really been enjoying it toasted… yum!
This is a very grat recipe! I baked beer bread before, and made guinness cake once, but never thought about matching the two for some reason! I am going to Dublin I two weeks, better get prepared with this one (for breakfast :D).
Hi Valeria! We loved Dublin – look for Murphy’s ice cream – it’s really good – and definitely go to the Guinness Storehouse!
Wow! This looks delicious and I love that it’s a quick bread. Definitely go on my must make soon list. Thanks for sharing!
Isn’t the internet great? Instant access to everything is literally at your fingertips. And I plan on having some of this brown bread at my fingertips and into my mouth very soon! Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for “discovering” it and sharing it with all of us 🙂
I’ve never tried making beer-based bread before, but this sounds and looks delicious! Plus being a quick-bread is such a bonus – baking with yeast intimidates me a little so I usually shy away from baking my own proper bread, but I think I’ll have to try this one out!
Hi Mel!! You should definitely give it a go, it is virtually foolproof!
What a gorgeous loaf! I am not sure I have ever had a beer bread before, but it looks fantastic 🙂
I am so excited to have found this recipe! I love beer breads and Guinness, so this is right up my alley. I’m always kicking myself for not waiting in line to go into the Guinness brewery when I was in Dublin. Dumb!
Hi Kate! I hope you enjoy the bread!! Ah, no worries about Guinness, it just means that you need to go back to Dublin!!
Thank you for this post. I love baking quick breads and I’m sending this to my sisters right away.
Hope you and your sisters enjoy this!!
I am getting ready to put this in the oven now. I didn’t have guinesse so I used an amberbock dark lager. I also added a little bit is toasted coconut to the dry ingredients. Can’t wait for it to finish baking 🙂
Hi Jessica!!
Ooooh…. love the idea of adding the coconut!!! I think I am gonna have to “steal” that idea!!
I LOVE this recipe! I didn’t have Guinness so I used a Gingerbread Stout. It was AMAZING! I also accidentally put in baking power. then realized, so i added the baking soda…It still turned out perfect 🙂 Thanks agaiN! This will be a regular visitor to our dinner table! Oh…and it accompanied my Guinness based pot roast:) Double yummy!
Helen
Hello Helen!! I am so glad that you liked it…. when we had it at the Guinness brewery I couldn’t get enough of it, searched all over for the recipe and finally was able to get it – woot!!!
I found you on Pinterest, and I was so intrigued by this bread. I have made beer breads in the past, but it was just mixing self-rising flour with beer and done. I was very interested in using whole wheat flour and molasses! I used oatmeal stout instead of Guinness, but I love the subtle sweetness of the bread, and also how hearty it is. I will probably reblog it sometime before this year’s St. Patty’s Day. Great recipe!
So glad you liked the bread Elizabeth! I bet it was wonderful with the oatmeal stout! When I had it at the Guinness brewery in Dublin I was hooked and was ecstatic when I found the recipe!!!
Made this tonight! While the ingredients called for salt, the instructions didn’t say when to add it, so it didn’t make it in my batch. Cooking time was more like 55 min & probably could have gone longer. This may be due to the high humidity in south Louisiana. Other than a tiny bit sticky still it came out pretty good!
Hi Lindsay!! So glad the bread came out well… and yes, baking times really vary – depending upon humidity, actual oven temperature, etc. Also, THANK YOU for catching the omission regarding the salt – will go back and fix it ASAP! Despite proof reading my recipes, I still miss things!!!!!
This recipe caught my attention when I was looking for St.Patriks Day meal ideas for my family. I am curious if anyone has ever substituted buttermilk for the whole milk? I just made a marvelous Irish Soda Bread and it had buttermilk and I thought maybe it would be good in this recipe too. Any imput?
Hello Jody! Sorry about my late reply – I’ve been traveling and my “wifi connection” has been pretty much non existent! You definitely could try the buttermilk, but I think with the guinness regular milk works better – I think the buttermilk would mask the flavor the guinness adds to the bread!
Just got back from a trip to Ireland and found your recipe. I also have the recipe from the Guinness Storehouse, so thanks for converting it. I just made this bread this last weekend, then found some KerryGold butter at the local store here and oh it is so good! Just like the brown bread I had in Ireland! I shared it with work all week. Everyone loved it!
The original website says it makes one loaf, but your recipe makes 2 loafs. Can you clarify?
Hello Megumi! When I made the original recipe, there was too much batter for one of the tins I normally use. Although the guinness recipe doesn’t specify the tin size, based on the amount of batter, it appears that the tin size is larger than most home cooks possess. I found that two – 8 inch pans worked best in terms of baking the bread – the inside cooked properly as did the outside!!!
There were two ‘brown breads’ that we had all across Ireland. One was more of a brown soda bread and one was the sweet Guinness bread that we had at the Storehouse. I dreamt of the Guinness bread for a year before we could get back over the Ireland to taste it again. I picked up one of the recipe cards for it that they gave out for free on the culinary wall where they showed mini videos of the chefs preparing different recipes. I tried making the recipe when we got back but it was not the same… “Wholemeal” is different then American whole wheat or other flours. Molasses is extracted at the beginning of the sugar refining process and is sweeter than Dark Treacle which is extracted at the end of the sugar refining process (which is probably why it didn’t work one-for-one). The question I still have is, the oats…. Are they steel cut pin oats or flaked oats (aka quick oats) or rolled oats… the Guinness recipe doesn’t say. If they are steel cut pin oats, are the soaked any before use like 80% of the Irish recipes I have? They sure don’t work if you don’t soak them! I’m still searching of the elusive secret as I’m sure many are. I suspect it has something to do with not being at the source of the Guinness and its Chef who created it. You can guarantee I’m giving your recipe a try this week! Thank you for sharing it!
Hi Denise!!
Yes, “wholemeal” flour is different – you can buy Irish style wholemeal flour on the King Arthur website. I haven’t made this bread with it yet, but plan to soon! You are right about the molasses – which is why I decreased it!!! I used old fashioned oats in the recipe and since the original recipe doesn’t call for soaking the oats, I assumed they used old fashioned oats!!! The bread isn’t exactly the same but comes very close – hope you enjoy it!!!
Thank you so much Nancy! I loved the brown bread at the Storehouse, particularly how dark it was compared to other brown breads I tried in Ireland (but don’t get me wrong, I loved them all). If I double the molasses per their original recipe, do I need to make any other recipe changes? thank you
Hi Danielle!!
I don’t know if doubling the molasses would be a good idea since the recipe calls for almost a cup – it definitely will give the bread a strong molasses flavor! Typically, when using a liquid sweetener, you need to decrease the amount of liquid by the same amount. Truth be told, I haven’t experimented greatly with changing the amount of molasses in this recipe. If you want to increase the sweetness, I would start with adding 1 or 2 additional tablespoons of molasses! If you do, I’d love to hear how the bread turns out! I’m making a loaf tomorrow so I may try it myself!!!
Thanks Nancy – my other thought was increase by just about that much. Seems like a better plan!
You are so welcome! I hope you enjoy the bread – and definitely let me know how it works out!! Slainte!
There is something about brown breads! Living in Germany years ago, my tastes buds were forever changed with the dark, flavorful brown and black breads and this one takes the cake! Thank you!