Beer Bread... Num Num Num

I don't think I'm planning on becoming a food blogger or anything but I just had to share this recipe (and my crappy low-res pics) because it's insanely easy and REALLY yummy.

I first tried it last week and made it according to the original recipe but tonight was Round 2 and I changed it up a little bit.



Here's my beer bread almost at the end of the hour of baking. As you can see, I don't have a bread pan so I put it in this freaky pan we got at IKEA that I thought was going to be a funky bundt pan but it's actually too small for an entire cake mix but the perfect size for beer bread.

Fresh out of the oven. As you can see, tonight I added some sharp cheddar cheese and a little bit of garlic salt. I was also making a potato/corn chowder and I felt like something a little more savory. The original beer bread has more of a sweeter taste.

Here's the aforementioned freaky pan from IKEA. It's incredibly disappointing because it doesn't make the bottom of the bread (or cake) have the cool shape you think it will have. Oh well, it makes an excellent octagonal beer bread.

This is how it looks from the side. DEEEEEEEELISH.

I wish you could see the steam that was rising. I threw some Brummel and Brown on that piece and chowed down.

Here's the recipe courtesy of Gerald Norman, via Recipezaar:

3 cups flour (sifted)

3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-rising flour)

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-rising flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 can/bottle (12 oz) beer

1/4 cup melted butter (you can even go with less than that... Gerald's original recipe calls for 1/2 cup which would be totally excessive)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift flour into medium sized bowl. If you don't have a sifter (like me!), carefully spoon the flour into your measuring cup. Make sure not to pack.

Mix dry ingredients and beer.

Pour into greased loaf (or freaky IKEA) pan.

Pour melted butter over mixture.

Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from pan, cool for 15 minutes, slice and serve!

That's it!!

Tonight, I added garlic salt to the dry ingredients (with only a pinch of sugar) and stirred a little sharp cheddar into the wet mixture. I grated a little extra cheese on top before pouring melted garlic butter on the top. I loved the original version for it's sweeter taste but my version tonight almost tasted like Red Lobster's Cheesy Garlic Biscuits.

I can't get over how easy it is, it literally took me 5 minutes to prepare. Plus, using beer in place of yeast makes it kind of idiot-proof. Both times I used Carlsberg beer but next time I may go full sugar and use a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat along with some whole wheat flour. It sure beats paying almost $5 a loaf for an artisan bread at the grocery store! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!