As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in this post, at no charge to you. When you purchase items I've linked here, you help support my blog; thank you :)
Vegetarian/Nut-free
Skill Level: Beginner
Yield: 1 loaf/8-10 servings
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Equipment Needed:
Whisk
Silicone or rubber scraper
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 (12-ounce) can beer
Cooking spray
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Coat a bread pan with cooking spray.
Whisk flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add beer and stir with a spoon or silicone scraper until just combined. You should not see any pockets of dry ingredients, but your batter should still be lumpy.
Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes.
Check for doneness using a skewer; if skewer comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached, bread is done and can be removed from oven too cool. If wet batter clings to the skewer, continue baking and checking at 5-minute intervals until bread is done.
Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan. Bread can be stored on the counter for up to 1 week wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, or frozen for up to 2 months.
To Serve: I love to serve this bread with soup and chili, because it is a GREAT sturdy bread for dipping! You could also use it to make sandwiches, or I think it would be delicious slathered with a tasty compound butter.
Adjusting for your diet: Most beers are vegan, so if you follow a vegan diet and are making this recipe, you should be fine as long as you are diligent about checking to ensure that the beer you are using is vegan-friendly.
Tips:
If you're not much of a baker, trust me when I say that beer bread is the recipe for you :) you will not find an easier baking recipe out there.
Self-rising flour is essentially just flour that already has baking powder and salt added in. In the past, I've found this beer bread recipe to be a little bland, so I add the additional 1 teaspoon salt as well. If you do not have self-rising flour, you can make your own: Measure 3 cups all-purpose flour and add 4 1/2 teaspoons baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon table salt; mix well. Measure out 2 2/3 cup (save the rest for another use) of your flour mixture, and proceed with the recipe.
Although I haven't tinkered with it, this bread is truly about as plain jane as can be, so I think you could experiment with adding some flavoring, such as garlic powder, rosemary, or even dill. I might try adding some shredded cheese next time to see what happens.
The biggest question I tried to answer when experimenting with this recipe, is what type of beer should you use?! With so many options available, you could go a number of directions. I tried making this bread with 6 different types of beer, and my husband and I sampled each one plain, and then each one dipped in chili. Here are our tasting notes:
Miller Lite: We described this one as "non-offensive" :) It was moist, you could taste a hint of salt but otherwise it was pretty bland.
Dangerous Man Brewery/Peanut Butter Porter: This one was definitely the most different in color, as you can see from the photos, which was not surprising since porters are such a dark beer. We thought this one was a tad sweet and malty, and you could taste a hint of the peanut butter used in this fun brew. I think it would be fun to make a slice of toast with this one and top it with jelly! This loaf was my husband's favorite of the six.
Indeed Brewery/Pistachio Cream Ale: This one was on the lighter-tasting side, and had a hint of nuttiness to it.
Lift Bridge Brewery/Farm Girl Golden Ale: This one tasted smooth, and like a nice blank slate for dipping into a bowl of warm chili. This one was my favorite.
Avery Brewery/Ellie's Brown Ale: Also nice and smooth, with a hint of sweetness.
Bell's Brewery/Two Hearted IPA: While this is my husband's beer of choice to drink, this loaf was one of our least favorites. It tasted a bit bitter and yeasty.
The biggest takeaway for me was...it doesn't really matter! If you want beer bread, any type of beer will make you an acceptable loaf. For us, some had more pleasing tastes than others, but they all tasted like beer bread. So, you could try mixing it up and finding a fun and interesting beer to try in your bread, or you could use the can of beer that is already in your fridge :)
The Story:
This beer bread recipe comes from my mom, one of many recipes she has given me over the years. Once the leaves start to turn and I start craving soups and chili, I know it must also be time to make a loaf of beer bread. Beer bread is kind of fun, because the beer works with the leavening agent (baking powder) in the self-rising flour to create the chemical reaction needed for this quick bread to rise, so you get to feel all chef-y and like you made bread (because you did), but you barely have to do anything.
This recipe is SO unbelievably easy, I decided to perform a little experiment that I've been curious about. Does it matter what type of beer one uses? Will changing it up affect the taste, or how it rises in the oven? Only one way to find out. I measured each ingredient exactly, and each bread was baked by itself in the same pan for the exact same length of time to achieve a fair study.
As mentioned in the tips, I learned that the type of beer really only affects the taste, and pretty minimally so at that. Each loaf baked as it should: quite dense, and ready to load up with chili. This bread won't be the star of the show at your dinner table, but it might work it's way into your regular rotation because of the simplicity of it's preparation. And we all know that sometimes the supporting roles are just as important as the star, right?
If you tried an interesting beer in your beer bread, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
Happy tasting!
Comments