I have a friend from Liverpool who loves to visit Ireland when he journeys back home.  He speaks fondly of a dark, whole grain bread he enjoys there that is popular in Dublin.  As he describes it, it is a yeast bread that is only mildly sweet.  I've searched for "Irish bread recipes" to no avail... Does anyone have any ideas?

Any recipes for batch bread (or batch loaf) as made in Ireland.

AFAIK its known as Plain Bread in Scotland so probably different names around the world.

Its got a hard and dark top-crust. Baked in batches so soft at sides. Here's the best picture I could find on the web.

http://www.irwinsbakery.co.uk/filestore/images/product/280px/nk-half-loaf.jpg

Today I made Norm's recipe for Irish Soda Bread. Discussion here and elsewhere has me convinced that his Americanized version is more appropriately called Spotted Dog.

Norm's Spotted Dog (Soda Bread)

I made 4 loaves. Two loaves were in 7" cake pans, but I used 1 lb 5 oz of dough instead of Norm's suggested 1 lb and 2 oz. The other two were in square pans a little larger and I guesstimated 1 lb 10 oz each. Otherwise I followed Norm's formula to the letter. Mixing was done by first mixing the shortening with the flour, and then adding the remaining dry ingredients, mixing again, and finally the buttermilk and water. I did this by hand using a dough whisk. Since I had 4 pans in the oven at the same time I baked at 350 convection (my oven's thermostat is on the low side so this is not as bad as it seems). Towards the end I even cranked it up to 375F convection to get some more browning. Start to finish (cooling time not included) a little over 1 hour.

Norm's Spotted Dog (Soda Bread) Crumb 

Never made this before, nor tasted it before. The crumb came out really nice and soft, but I think it could have used a little more raisins. Tasted delicious with a little (lot) of butter on top! Thanks Norm. 

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures 

Anyone here have a Irish soda bread they really like? I'd love to bake some loaves this week-end for gifts for my office mates for Saint Patty's day - I would love your suggestions.

Trish