Update: I have revised this recipe twice since posting this. For the best version, which stores well, click here.
I hate beer. Short of vomit and diarreah and possibly gasoline, I find it to be the most vile substance on the planet. I truly believe that the only reason anyone actually likes the taste of beer is that they repeatedly forced themselves to drink it in order to get drunk and/or be social and then the taste grew on them. Am I wrong?
Anyway, when I got a beer bread mix for Christmas, I was actually excited, despite my aversion to beer. I don’t like drinking it, but suddenly I was willing to try eating it. (Which implies a lot about my relationship with food but I’ll ignore that for the time being.) The resulting bread was mildly disappointing so I decided to make another loaf from scratch and found a recipe that only had a few ingredients and didn’t require rising time, so it was quick and easy to make.
I was beyond full when I tried the first slice, but it was difficult to keep from taking another to see if the second would taste as good. It has a thick, crunchy and buttery crust, it’s center is hearty and rich with a yeasty and slightly sweet taste. Eating a loaf of this stuff may be the only way I’ll ever consume an entire bottle, and that may be happening by the end of the day. If I can wait that long.
Whether you enjoy beer or not, I think you’ll like this bread, too.
Beer Bread
3 cups sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12-oz) can beer
1 stick (1/2 cup) melted butter
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk, then stir in the beer with a spoon. The batter will be thick, like bread dough (at least mine was). Dump in into the prepared pan and spread out as evenly as possible. Pour the melted butter over the top and bake for 1 hour. (Some reviewers reported that the butter boiled up and over the pan during baking, making a smoky mess. This didn’t happen to me, but I would recommend putting a baking sheet on the rack below the pan just in case.) Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes.
