Cheesy Beer Bread
12
I’m still not entirely sure what happened. Everything seemed okay going in. But it really killed my confidence because it’s a bread machine! It does the work for you and is supposed to be foolproof! The next week I wanted to make a new yeasted loaf recipe but the store was out of an ingredient I needed. Taking both things as a sign, I decided to take the easy way out and just make some beer bread.
I stayed pretty basic with this one, just mixing in some garlic powder and cheese. You could of course add herbs, peppers, swap out the cheeses, whatever you want. The loaf will be done in less than an hour and you will end up with a tender bread with a nice crust. No machine, finger crossing, or…ahem…swearing necessary.
Cheesy Beer Bread
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 cup all purpose flour
1.5 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 packed cup of shredded cheese (I used a mixture of sharp cheddar and Parmesan), divided
1 (12 oz.) bottle of beer
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan with cooking oil.
Stir together the flours, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and all but 2 tablespoons of the cheese. Lightly mix in the beer using a wooden spoon until incorporated. Transfer the dough to the prepared loaf pan. Pour/brush the butter over the top of the loaf and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese. Bake for about 40-50 minutes.
ooooh, you had me at cheese! And bread! And beer…
I have some serious hang-ups in the baking department – I lose all confidence with anything requiring yeast, but I’m working on it. This looks like a good ‘gateway’ recipe for those of us that want to make bread, but need need a half-step to boost our confidence!
I love how easy beer bread is. This certainly looks delicious!
I make sourdough bread on a regular basis. Although I usually just do the dough cycle now and bake it in pans, I used to bake it in the machine. Once, I had my boyfriend do it on his own and his turned out dense like that, too, like a brick. We compared what we did and I’m pretty sure the only difference was that he just dumped the flour in (after sifting). I always gently shake it in a little at a time with a flour scoop (after sifting) and allocate it evenly over the whole pan so that it says on one level above the liquids. Could that be what happened?
Maybe, MJ. I let my kids do some of the dumping so it’s possible. But, I made sure to do most of it, including the last part, so that the water was completely covered, etc. Who knows!
I’m always up for beer bread!! Even more so than yeast bread, so I think that really this was divine intervention.
I like how the cheese laces thru the bread. And of course I like that it’s a savory quick bread.
Made it yesterday. Yum. Hit the spot with some homemade soup. You need that kind of thing when contending with your second nor’easter in 7 days. Didn’t have white whole wheat flour so I used half regular flour and half standard whole wheat. Very tasty and super easy.
Glad you liked it, Amy! Hope you’re recovering from the storms. We just had nearly 2′ feet here this weekend – so crazy.
Let me just say that if you toast it the next day and then add a generous pat of salted butter, you could do worse.
Another winner! I used half whole wheat and half white flour but otherwise stuck to the recipe. I love a quick bread that I can bake up when I’m having soup or stew for lunch or dinner. I just saw the comment about toasting it with butter – going to try that as well. Thanks!
Glad you liked it, Nancy, and I can also attest to the toasting with butter being pretty fab. 🙂