I have absolutely no connection what-so-ever with Ireland. There is not an inkling of anything Irish in me although I did spend a week there some years ago. But I thought what the 'ell; lets do something Irish for St.Patrick's Day.  In fact the UK's food magazines are full of recipes with an Irish slant including this one. Guinness and Onion Bread comes from Fresh Magazine.

Guinness and Onion Bread - Ingredients

• sachet easy blend yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tbsp warm water
• 550g strong white bread flour
• 200g strong wholemeal flour
• 15g salt
• 440ml can Guinness Extra Stout
• 2 tbsp walnut oil
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion finely diced
• cornmeal for dusting
• egg wash
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped walnuts

 As can be seen from the picture I used a bottled Guinness rather than from a can.

The first stage is to get the yeast active - pit the sugar, warm water and yeast in a bowl, whisk, and leave until frothy.

Mix the white and wholemeal flour in a bowl and add the salt. Once the yeast has proved (10-20 minutes) add to the flour along with the walnit oil and stout. Mix until smooth and elastic. Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour or so untill doubled in bulk. After proving the yueast and mixing it with the Guinness and oil it should have rested and begin to doubled in bulk. At this stage the onions need to be gently fried; chop the small onion small and saute in butter until soft and transparent. Drain and leave to cool completely.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, punch down and then fold in the onions. Work the dough for a few minutes - stretch it but try to to tear. This stage works the gluten. Divide the dough into two even sized pieces and roll each one in to a loaf shape. Again try not to tear the dough. Mine, as pictured, can not exactly be described as equal in size!

The two loaves should be covered with cling film and again be allowed to rise until double in size. Should take about 40 minutes but I left mine for an hour; as although the oven was on to warm up the day is particularly cold and the poky kitchen more than a little drafty!

The oven should be heated to 200C/400F/G6. 

Put the loaves on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Wash the loaves with eggwash and sprinkle over the chopped walnuts. Oh, a slit should be cut down the middle of each - but mine wasn't deep enough and disappeared during cooking. Still that eggwash gave a lovely deep colour.

At the same time as the loaves go in the oven put in a small pot of water to create steam and help form the crust. Bake for about 50 minutes. I turned the oven down after half an hour to 190C/375F/G5 as they seemed to be browning too quickly. They are done when the bottom gives a hollow thud when tapped.

Allow to cool before serving with plenty of butter. A couple of slices was rather good with fried egg and black pudding for a morning after remedy!

[Photos Andrew Barrow]