Myrtle Alen is considered the Grand Dame of Irish cuisine. She is the founder of Ballymaloe, one of Ireland's premiere restaurants.

It starts with black treacle (delivered fresh from London, thanks Fred!) , the British version of black strap molasses.

The goo gets mixed with 100% whole wheat flour and more water. It doesn't get kneaded, just mixed.

From bowl to pan, these are 8" X 4" and well buttered.

These have just spent about 70 minutes in a 400º oven. They spend the first 45 minutes uncovered and the last 25 foil covered.

The "well" in well buttered pan seems to have done the trick. They popped right out and browned very nicely all the way around.

I was pleasantly suprised by the crumb. It was more open than I expected, given that it was 100% whole wheat with no kneading to develop gluten.

The flavor is amazing! Very deep and subtly sweet.

This is her Brown Bread, an Irish staple. Other brown breads I've seen are soda breads. This is a yeasted bread.

This is yeast, black treacle, water and about 10 minutes.

There is only one fermentation/proof and it only lasts 20 minutes!