BROWN BREAD...THE REAL IRISH BREAD
This is from Malachi McCormick's Irish Country Cooking. It's a great book, and puts the lie to the common misconception that there's little to savor in traditional Irish cuisine. Not so? Over time, I'll put my favorites from the book - and other sources - up here. Try them out, and tell me which you like best. And kudos to Mr. McCormick, for a job well-done!
Ingredients:
4 cups of whole wheat flour (stone-ground preferred)
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour milk
Butter
Equipment:
Bowl
Wooden spoon
Board, floured
8-inch cast iron pot, with lid
Round 8-inch cake pan, with lid
Wax paper
Knife
Tea towel
This will yield one round eight inch loaf. It will go quickly, so feel free to double all, and bake two loaves.
Goes well, Malachi tells us, with butter, or a tart jam, such as gooseberry, blackcurrant, or loganberry.
And now, the recipe, pretty much verbatim, from Irish Country Cooking:
This is from Malachi McCormick's Irish Country Cooking. It's a great book, and puts the lie to the common misconception that there's little to savor in traditional Irish cuisine. Not so? Over time, I'll put my favorites from the book - and other sources - up here. Try them out, and tell me which you like best. And kudos to Mr. McCormick, for a job well-done!
Ingredients:
4 cups of whole wheat flour (stone-ground preferred)
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour milk
Butter
Equipment:
Bowl
Wooden spoon
Board, floured
8-inch cast iron pot, with lid
Round 8-inch cake pan, with lid
Wax paper
Knife
Tea towel
This will yield one round eight inch loaf. It will go quickly, so feel free to double all, and bake two loaves.
Goes well, Malachi tells us, with butter, or a tart jam, such as gooseberry, blackcurrant, or loganberry.
And now, the recipe, pretty much verbatim, from Irish Country Cooking:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix the flours, baking soda, and salt well in a bowl.
- Make a hole in the middle, and with a wooden spoon, stir the sour milk in vigorously, to make a thickish dough, not too wet or floppy.
- Mix well and then turn the dough out onto a floured board
- With your hands, shape it into a round cake about 2 inches high and 7 inches in diameter.
- Warm an 8-inch cast iron pot in the oven for about 3 minutes. If you don't have a cast iron pot, a round 8-inch cake pan, lined with wax paper and covered with a lid, will do quite well.
- Take it (the cast iron pot) out and grease it with butter, lightly. If using the pan, ignore this step, unless you're out of wax paper, in which case keep the step in, and grease the pan with butter.
- Place the "cake" in the pot (or the pan).
- Using a wet knife, make a cross-cut on the top of the cake.
- Put a lid on the pot (or the pan), and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
- When it's baked, take the bread out of the pot, and wrap it in a clean tea towel to cool for about five or six hours.
Serve buttered, with a wedge of lemon, beside a plate of Irish smoked salmon, or a dozen of the best Galway Bay oysters, though you may wish to get a fresher shellfish from your local fishmonger.
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