What do you do with beer when you’re not a beer drinker? Make easy beer bread!
Sometimes my hubby brings home assorted things from the various events he attends. We’ve had a taste of Bai (this is gross, IMHO), organic kombucha, home decor, and more. This time, he brought home Ticate Light Beer. Since no one here drinks beer, it sat in my fridge for about a month until I decided to try making beer bread. There was quite a bit of experimenting and this easy beer bread recipe is a combination of several recipes.
Quick beer bread in about an hour!Easy Beer Bread
Type of Flour
The first time I made beer bread, I used AP flour and 3T. of sugar. It came out with a hard crispy crust and a pronounced sweet taste. I wasn’t sure if this was the way it was supposed to come out, but after reading reviews on several recipes, it was. However, I wasn’t sure if I liked the crisp crust and sweet taste, so I continued on.
I tried it several more times until I finally got the top to be a little softer (the secret is butter on top) and the bread to have a bit more ‘chew’ by using bread flour. Now, if you don’t have bread flour, don’t let that stop you from making this recipe because AP flour works fine. To me, the only real difference is that the bread won’t have the same ‘chew’ you find in regular bread.
Note: Self-rising flour can be used too with similar crumb as AP flour. Just leave out the salt and baking powder in the recipe.
Amount of Sugar
Another thing to note is the sugar level. I experimented with a minimum of one tablespoon all the way up to three tablespoons of sugar. One tablespoon of gave the bread a normal bread taste with two to three tablespoons a sweet taste. I preferred one tablespoon to eat with savory items, while my teens liked the maximum of 3 tablespoons to eat with jelly and butter. So really, you can adjust the sugar level to your liking.
What Beer to Use?
The type of beer you choose will affect the flavor of the bread. Since the beer I used was a light beer, it did not have a very pronounced beer flavor, which was perfect for us non-beer drinkers. If you use a stronger flavored beer, you will have stronger beer flavor. So my advice is to use beer that you enjoy drinking in your beer bread.
On to the recipe….
Easy Beer Bread - A Quick Bread Recipe
No rise quick beer bread recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 cups All purpose or bread flour
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 - 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 - 12oz. can beer
- optional - 2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
Instructions
- Grease a 8" x 4" or 9" x 5" bread pan. Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except for the 2T. of melted butter, just until wet. The dough will be slightly lumpy. Pour into a greased bread pan and flatten top. Pour the 2T. of melted butter on top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool before slicing.
Notes
- Use less sugar if eating with savory items. Use more sugar if eating with sweet spreads for breakfast.
- Top with 2T. melted butter for a softer crust. Without butter it will have a very crisp crust.
- Different beers will affect the flavor of the bread. Use beer you enjoy drinking.
- Using bread flour will give the bread more 'chew' than AP flour.
- Self-rising flour can be used too. Just omit the salt and baking powder.
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I have never heard of beer bread before, but it sounds so good & easy to make. I’m sure my kids would like it with the max sugar too!
I only recently discovered it due to the beer my hubby brought home. It’s a denser bread, so great for a side filler for soups and salads.