Irish Guinness Brown Bread Recipe

5 from 5 votes

This moist Guinness brown bread, or wheaten bread, is a typical Irish bread made with whole-meal flour, oats, and stout.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Irish

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: slices

Calories: 179kcal

Author: Adina

50 g butter 2 oz + some to butter the pan
1 tablespoon treacle or molasses, Note 2
450 g wholemeal flour preferably coarse, 1 lb, Note 3
30 g oats old-fashioned, rolled oats or porridge oats ⅓ cup + 1 extra Tbsp, divided, Note 4
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt or Kosher salt
400 ml Guinness 13.5 oz Notes 5, 6

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Butter the loaf pan generously and sprinkle its bottom with ½ tablespoon oats.
small knob of butter + ½ tablespoon oats
Melt butter and treacle (molasses) in a small pan. Set aside until you combine the rest of the ingredients.
50 g (2 oz) butter + 1 tablespoon treacle
Dry ingredients: Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
450 g (1 lb) flour + 30 g/ ⅓ cup oats + 2 tablespoon brown sugar + 2 teaspoon baking soda + ½ teaspoon salt
Combine dough: Stir stout beer into the butter and pour this mixture over the flour mixture. Mix well with a spoon to combine.
Transfer the dough to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle it with ½ tablespoon oats.
Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. Carefully remove the brown bread from the loaf pan. Place it again in the oven, this time directly on the rack. Bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes. Check if it’s cooked through; it should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.
Cool: Wrap it in a clean tea towel, place it on a wire rack, and let it cool before slicing.

Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it guarantees the best results (Amazon affiliate link).
Treacle or molasses are both fine for this recipe. If you live in Germany, use Zuckerrübersirup.
Flour: Use coarse whole meal flour or stoneground whole wheat flour in the US for the most genuine results.
Oats: You need porridge oats, old-fashioned or rolled oats. Steel-cut oats are not suitable for making this bread.
Guinness: This recipe requires 400 ml/ 13.5 oz stout beer. However, a regular stout bottle contains 330ml/ 11 oz beer; one can usually contains 350 ml/ 12 oz. If you don’t want to open a second container (and drink the rest), replace the missing amount with buttermilk or yogurt (See Expert Tips).
You can substitute Guinness with another stout beer.