EASY BEER BREAD
3 cups flour
3 Tsps. baking powder
1 Tsp. salt
¼ cup sugar
1 12 oz. can of beer
½ cup melted butter or margarine
1. Sift flour
[1], baking powder, sugar and salt together into your mixing bowl
2. Add the beer and mix well until a sticky
[2] dough forms
[3]
3. Turn the dough into a lightly greased and floured loaf pan
[4]
4. Pour the melted butter or margarine evenly over the top of the loaf
[5]
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until the top is browned.
6. Cool in the loaf pan on a rack for 5 minutes
7. Turn the loaf onto a rack to finish cooling
I’ve added lots of notes, but the recipe is really easy. If I turn on the oven when I begin mixing the ingredients the loaf will be ready to go into the oven about the time it’s properly preheated.
[1] Sifting the flour is important to avoid a brick-heavy loaf. I sift all the dry ingredients at once because it’s a head start on mixing in the bowl, and at heart I’m lazy.
[2] When thoroughly mixed the dough will be somewhat like biscuit dough but softer and stickier, sort of like biscuit dough with too much liquid, but definitely not like a batter.
[3] There’s an alternative to step 2. You can mix the melted butter or margarine into the dough when you add the beer, and pour nothing over the top of the loaf. This will make the loaf a bit moister, and the crust will be somewhat less crisp. If you do this then obviously you’ll skip step 4.
[4] I give my loaf pan a few shots of PAM, then add a couple of teaspoons of flour, shake the pan around to coat the bottom and sides, then dump the excess flour into the mixing bowl.
[5] Pouring the melted butter or margarine over the loaf before baking will give it a crispier, crunchy crust with an interesting butter flavor. I’ve tried both pouring and mixing and although the results are slightly different I’ve not decided which one I like better.
