Beer Bread

I have been known to purchase expensive beer bread mixes.  Why?  I had no idea how easy it was to make beer bread on my own without a mix.  Food manufacturers have convinced us that we need all the convenience foods and mixes that they produce, and I am guilty of falling for their advertising way to often.  Sometimes we don’t realize how easy it is to prepare foods on our own.  We buy convenience food thinking they are time savers, when the truth is that they often only save us a few seconds.  This bread is so simple to make, and has a total of six ingredients!  Six!  The original recipe used self-rising flour, which further reduces the ingredients to a total of four.  (I didn’t happen to have self-rising flour on hand, but if you do, simply omit the baking powder and the salt.)  The beer bread mix I was using had three ingredients:  the mix, beer, and butter.  I mean, how hard it is it to measure and mix in a few more ingredients?  Now, if the beer bread from the mix tasted significantly better, it might be worth it.  But how often is a mix better than homemade?  I can honestly say that my family enjoyed this bread as much as they did the breads I have made from mixes.


You can use whatever beer you like for beer bread, or use non-alcoholic near beer.  We don’t drink much beer around here, and I would guess we actually buy more to use in bread than we do to drink!  This time I used Samuel Adams Winter Lager.  It is a seasonal brew that is brewed with freshly ground cinnamon, orange zest, and ginger.  I had not tried this particular brew before, and I thought it gave the bread a great taste.  Some of my favorite beers to use in beer bread are from Leinenkugel’s.  My favorite is Honey Weiss, with Berry Weiss coming in as a close second.  What's your favorite beer to use in beer bread?

print recipe

Beer Bread

by Jill {www.dulcedough.com} February-5-2012

An easy, homemade beer bread recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (if using self-rising, omit baking powder and salt)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 12 ounces beer
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and spray loaf pan with cooking spray.2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; add the sugar and whisk until all dry ingredients are well combined.3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour beer into the well; stir to combine.4. Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes.5. Remove from oven and brush the top of loaf with butter; return to oven and bake 5 more minutes.6. Remove bread from pan and allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 55 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 1 loaf

Recipe adapted from Food Network.