I would not be surprised to learn that I was one of the last people to learn about beer bread. This past June I was at my mom’s and she said she would whip up some beer bread. As much as I love bread I have never tried to make it because, yeast is a scary mystery to me. So I was curious as to how she was going to “whip” it up. I knew that to mean quick and not whipped like whipping cream so I wondered how that could be done. Yeast has to set, right? She and my niece did it and I was amazed and thrilled. It is so easy. There are really thousands of sites on the internet that have beer bread recipes. I found that out when I went looking for recipes that call for “self-rising” flour.
Most of the recipes — the easy ones are 3 cups of self-rising flour, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 12 ounces of beer. Bake at 375°F for about an hour. The first time I made it I actually handled the dough too much and I think it came out tough. I had mixed it a lot then, had a hard time putting it in the pan. It kind of sticks to whatever you use to try to push it to the corners of the pan. Then AFTER I had spent some time fitting it into the pan I realized I should have greased the pan so I popped the dough out, greased the pan, and spent a considerable amount of time getting the dough back into the corners. Kinda made it tough.
The next time I was careful NOT to play with the dough so much. And it came out better. Plus I used less sugar. I know it is only three tablespoons, but it makes the bread too sweet for my tastes so I probably used about a tablespoon less. I added salt (yeah, I did), garlic, and cheese. I used Asiago because that is what I had and I wanted something with a gentle bite to it. It turned out REALLY good.
I am not sure if I made it again before this very last time. Hmmmmm . . . . can’t remember. I don’t think so. Even though I love bread, my hubby is not so much the bread fan, so that means I end up eating most of it and I don’t need to do that. Even though I love that fact that there are less chemicals and stuff in this bread it is still an uber refined carb and I can always use to eat less of those!
This last time I made it with two tablespoons of sugar. I have yet to pour the butter on top as most recipes instruct. My hubby and I usually put butter on it so I don’t feel we need to have double butter. In this batch I used garlic salt, garlic powder, and marjoram. I love marjoram. So I sprinkled some into the dough. It is good. It could even do with more marjoram. I just wasn’t sure so I did use a lot, but now I know it works I can put more in. You can barely see the flakes in the bread.
I still want to try it with other herbs. Or maybe even a heavier beer? And definitely even LESS sugar. I might even try eliminating the sugar all together. Since this really is a well-known recipe and I am thinking many of you have made it, what have you used? Have you added any other herbs? What typed of beer do you use? Have any of you tried it with a gluten free flour? Does it work?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 