Better Beer Bread

Cookin'Diva's Note:

With the right technique, your beer bread will rise high and be moist and flavorful. The bonus is that it takes only 10 minutes to prepare beer bread, making it the perfect recipe for beginner cooks! I've posted two variations that will give your bread additional flavor, although you can make it with the first four ingredients and you will be back to "normal" beer bread, which is still wonderful!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 12 ounces beer, room temperature
• 1/4 cup salted butter, melted

VARIATION 1

• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon onion flakes

VARIATION 2

• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon rosemary, ground

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and spray a loaf pan (I use a glass pan).
2. In a large bowl, mix flour and sugar together. If you are making one of the "variations", add those ingredients to the bowl.
3. Slowly pour in room-temperature beer, as if you were trying NOT to create a huge "head" of bubbles.
4. Gently mix batter, again being careful not to whip the bubbles out of the beer and only mixing until everything is moistened. You will have lumps!
5. Pour batter into loaf pan. Melt butter and pour over batter.
6. Bake 375 degrees for 45-47 minutes. The top will be brown and the butter will have created a wonderful, slightly salty exterior.
7. Tip: place a sheet of foil under your loaf pan to catch any excess butter that may bubble over.

Reviews

[Concancook! Chef #312612]

This was absolutely the best!! I could have eaten the whole loaf ~ WHOOPS! That's not a good thing, but at the time I didn't care!!! The recipe was so easy and simple, and what a great result ~ will impress everyone. The only thing I did different was to make my own self-rising flour, I used 41/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. ( The rule of thumb that I go by is 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup of regular flour instead of using "self rising flour"). I used a micro brew, Fat Tire and the results were FABULOUS! If there are any leftovers (and that would be a "BIG IF"), the next day, butter both sides and put on a griddle (like grilled cheese). OMG!! You won't believe how good this is!!!

[Greeny4444]

My husband and I keep beer around, but we don't drink that often, so I like to try out different beer breads. I made this alongside Lazy Irish Beer Bread, and we couldn't decide which one we liked better. This was a great recipe! I had to make my own self-rising flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt per one cup all-purpose flour. I used Shiner Bock, and I just made the plain bread, with no variations. We really liked this, and I look forward to trying the cheese/onion variation. Thanks.

[StacyMD187373]

Made this b/c I wanted to have some bread to go with the soup I made, but had no eggs...Turned out delicious, especially the crusty edges. I made variation 1 and, despite putting extra cheese (unfortuantely didn't have sharp cheddar), the bread didn't really have much taste. I would definitely put more onion flakes as well as the extra cheese. Overall, easy to make and pretty tasty. Oh, I had to sub 3 cups all purpose with 3 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp salt for the self rising flour.