Aren't potatoes one of the most wonderful vegetables? They add so much deliciousness to many different dishes, including this traditional Irish recipe for boxty bread.
If you love Irish recipes, you'll definitely want to try these tasty recipes for boxty pancakes and colcannon.
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Ingredients
For this boxty bread, you'll need only a few basic ingredients. Let's talk about the most important ingredients in this recipe!
- Potatoes: Choose a floury variety, such as russet, for this recipe. You'll need some mashed potatoes that have cooled along with some freshly grated potato for contrasting textures.
- Flour: This helps bind everything together. All-purpose works great in boxty bread, but you can substitute with a measure-for-measure gluten free alternative as well.
- Butter: I like to use melted unsalted butter for extra richness, but feel free to swap for another fat if you're dairy free or vegan.
How to Make
- Dump the flour, mashed potatoes, melted butter, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl and blend until combined.
- Quickly peel and grate the two potatoes. Measure out 7 ounces (200g) of grated potato, discarding the remaining potato.
3. Wrap the grated potato in an old kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. The juice is pink because the potato turns pink after being grated.
4. Add the squeezed, grated potato to the bowl of ingredients and stir to combine. Gradually add in the milk until a sticky dough has formed.
5. Gently knead the boxty on a floured surface, then shape into a ball.
6. Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet and cut a deep X into the dough, cutting almost all the way through the dough. The four quarters are called farls.
7. Bake at 400°F for about 40 minutes, until the loaf is a lovely golden brown. Let it cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving.
8. You might want to try eating some boxty at breakfast or alongside a bowl of this hearty Dublin coddle. I highly recommend that you make this delicious potato recipe today!
Recipe FAQs
What is boxty bread?
It's a classic Irish potato recipe that looks very similar to soda bread. It's just as easy to make, and tastes even better, in my opinion. The texture of boxty is quite unique, though, because it contains mashed potatoes and grated potatoes. I love how the grated potatoes give it a little bit of a hash brown-like texture!
What is it made of?
It is made from mashed potatoes, grated potatoes, flour, salt, baking powder, butter, and milk. Using both mashed and grated potatoes adds a lot of moisture and results in an interesting texture.
What do you eat it with?
This boxty bread makes a wonderful breakfast for St. Patrick's Day, or a hearty accompaniment to a bowl of Dublin coddle.
- Serve with butter, jam, or honey.
- Toast under the broiler and serve with a hearty soup.
- Serve in an Ulster fry (eggs, sausages, bacon, fried boxty, fried soda bread, fried mushrooms or tomatoes).
- Enjoy as part of an Irish breakfast (similar to Ulster fry but also includes black and white pudding and possibly baked beans).
Store
- Keep leftovers tightly covered at room temperature.
- Eat within 24 hours for best freshness.
- Freeze in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Expert Tips
- Use an all-purpose potato, such as russet.
- Wring out as much liquid as possible from the grated potato and measure it accurately. Adding too much grated potato will make the loaf doughy.
- Mark it with an X almost all the way through. This allows the heat from the oven to penetrate the dough, helping it cook properly.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes while the oven is preheating. This helps the baking powder work better.
- Allow it to cool before eating.
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Recipe
Irish Boxty Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain mashed potatoes
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 7 ounces peeled and coarsely grated russet potatoes, about 2 medium potatoes
Instructions
- Warm up the mashed potatoes and place them in a medium mixing bowl with the flour, baking powder, salt, and melted butter. Measure out the milk and set it aside.
- Working quickly so the potatoes don't turn pink, peel and grate the two potatoes. Squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the grated potato with paper towel, then stir it into the flour mixture.
- Gradually mix in the milk until all the flour is picked up from the bowl and a sticky dough has formed. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times until the mixture is well combined.
- Shape the dough into a disc and place on a lightly floured baking stone or a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Score in a cross shape with a sharp knife, cutting almost all the way through the dough.
- Let the boxty rest for about 10 minutes on the counter while the oven is preheating to 400 F.
- Bake at 400°F for about 40 minutes, until the loaf is a lovely golden brown. Let the bread cool a little on a wire rack before serving. It tastes best warm and spread with butter.
Notes
- Russet potatoes are the best choice for boxty because of their high starch content.
- Squeeze out all the liquid from the grated potato and measure it accurately. Adding too much potato will make the loaf doughy.
- Cut an X almost all the way through the loaf. This helps it cook properly.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes while the oven is preheating. This helps the baking powder work better.
- Let the boxty cool before eating to give it time to finish cooking in the middle.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on February 22, 2018.
Shijo
So nice 👍 OMG
Emma
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the boxty bread, Shijo!
Kathleen
This bread is so easy to make, fun actually, a great recipe to make with your family! And the results are delicious, soft and unique bread!
Emma
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Kathleen! We love boxty bread, too!