Irish traditional bread recipe with a modern twist - rye, ale & honey

The Cupcake Bloke has done it again with this perfect bread bake, ideal for sandwiches. 

I wanted to create a bread that worked really well with baked ham and cold meats. My Dad was a pork butcher, so it’s only natural that he is the inspiration for this recipe. He loves a pint of Smithwick’s and with a surname like Herterich, I had to look to Germany for some inspiration.

I’ve used rye flour and lots of seeds, like so many good German breads. I love this bread served with the honey and mustard baked ham along with some good salted butter, gherkins and mustard.

Pass the Kölsch – prost!

Rye, ale & honey bread recipe

Makes 1 x 900g (2lb) loaf

Ingredients: 

- melted butter, for greasing the tin
- 300g dark rye flour
- 150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting the tin
- 100g pumpkin seeds, plus extra to sprinkle on top
- 1 tsp bread soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 250ml buttermilk
- 250ml ale
- 75g honey
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Prepare a 900g (2lb) loaf tin by lightly brushing it with melted butter and dusting with a little plain flour.

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and gently mix.

In a separate jug, whisk all the wet ingredients together with a fork, then mix this into the dry ingredients.

Pour the dough into the prepared tin and sprinkle some porridge oats on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, then take the bread out of the tin and place it back in the oven, straight on the oven rack, for a further 5 minutes.

To check it’s baked, tap the bottom of the bread – it should sound hollow when it’s fully cooked.

Remove from the oven and wrap in a clean tea towel while it’s cooling to stop the crust from getting too hard.

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"Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists" by Graham Herterich, published by Nine Bean Rows, is available, at all good bookshops and many independent retailers throughout Ireland s well as online at ninebeanrowsbooks.com. 

Graham Herterich.

Graham Herterich learned to cook as a young child at his Granny’s side and developed his love affair with baking. He continued his training in Culinary Arts at Waterford Institute of Technology and his studies included stints at well-known restaurants and hotels like Kilkee Castle, Marlfield House, Mount Juliet, Chapter One, Peacock Alley and The Commons. Graham briefly left the industry to spend two years as part of the Carmelite community before returning to it aged 21, ultimately founding The Cupcake Bloke in 2012 and opening his first retail store, The Bakery in Rialto, Dublin, in 2018. Graham is passionate about flavor and quality while bringing an element of fun to his food. "Bake: Traditional Irish Baking with Modern Twists" is his first book.