The Bread for All Seasons-Beer Bread
There is something indescribably wonderful about the smell of fresh baked bread. Unfortunately, traditional slow-rising breads take an incredible amount of time and effort to make at home. I have found a recipe that I’ve been using for years that is always a crowd favorite, is the perfect accompaniment for both warm-weather and cold-weather meals, requires only FOUR ingredients, and, wait for it, can go from ingredient stage to in your mouth in about an hour or so.
What is the miracle quick bread? This, my friends, is BEER BREAD. I make it in the spring and summer to go along with light meals like salads and grilled chicken, and I make it in the winter as a side for bigger, heartier meals like stews, soups and meatloaf. Whatever the season, it’s super easy to make, and I hope all of you give it a try.
I found this recipe just by Googling, and a quick search this morning confirmed that it still comes up #1 in the search results. You can see the recipe here, or just keep reading.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups self-rising flour, sifted (if using all-purpose flour, there are additional ingredients)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 (12 oz) can or bottle of beer, any kind that you have on hand
- ½ cup melted butter (¼ cup will do in a pinch)
If you’re using all-purpose flour, you’ll also need:
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Slowly pour in the can/bottle of beer. Try to avoid creating too much foam.
- Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan.
- Pour the melted butter over the mixture.
- Bake for one hour, remove from pan and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
This dough is not the prettiest dough in the world. It’s not a thick, creamy batter like a cake batter. It’s quite lumpy, a bit dry, and you might not be able to incorporate all the dry ingredients into the dough. It should look like this:
After you get it into the pan and pour the butter all over the top, it looks a bit like butter overkill. Do not worry-this is what forms the golden, buttery crispy crust:
Finally, after an hour of making your house smell like a bakery, you’ll get this:
If you’d like to see me in action, watch my video below:
If you give this a try, please let me know how it turned out!!
A friend of mine gave me this recipe years ago. I get compliments on it every time I make it. I'm glad yours turned out great too!!
In an effort to pretend that it's cold outside (we live in Las Vegas), I'm making this tonight to go with some beef stew. It's in the oven now!
Hello Marnie and bonjour from France! Thanks for sharing this recipe, i always get compliments on it and it’s so good & easy to make.
This is going to be a lifesaver during lock-down. I couldn’t find it at first and I was …..NO! Marnie has taken away beer bread. But it’s OK, it’s here. Phew