Guinness in the Stew, Guinness in the Bread

When I made my Irish beef stew for St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Stew I had some of the Guinness leftover.  Neither Larry or I like Guinness, so I knew we were not going to drink it.  But I did not want to waste it either.  So once again, I put on my creative thinking cap and came up with a great way to use it.  I put it some brown Irish soda bread.  It came out great.  I know, it looks like a cake, but it’s a bread.  It’s best when it is served warm with butter on top.

We are going through all our leftovers, and since we still had some Irish stew, why not serve it with the Irish soda bread, right, and of course some red wine as well.

Irish Brown Soda Bread

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk – I use the dried buttermilk mixed with milk

1 1/2 cups Guinness stout

additional oats for topping

 

Preheat the oven to 425* F.

Spray a round baking pan with cooking spray.

 

Mix together all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Once everything is thoroughly mixed together, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine well.  You will have a thick batter.

Evenly spread the batter in the baking pan, then top with more of the oats.

Bake at 425* F for 30 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 400* F and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or until the bread is done.  When the bread is done, turn the oven off, crack the oven door open and let the bread cool while still in the oven.  Once it is cooled, slice it, slathe it with butter and enjoy.  This is good as a side dish or even as a breakfast or snack bread too.