One of my all-time favorite recipes on this blog is for Buttery Beer Bread, which is slightly sweet with a delicious yeasty flavor, and a thick, crunchy, and buttery crust. The only downside to it is that it is best fresh from the oven and does not store well, so it’s a little hard to fit into a diet plan because we usually end up splitting the whole loaf between us and polishing it off in one sitting. (Avoiding dry leftover bread is perfection justification for the overindulgence, no?) If you’ve made this bread, you know that eating half a loaf of it is a lot easier to manage than one would imagine. In the interest of trying to shrink our midsections, however, we try not to pull that stunt too often.
Deciding I needed a soft beer bread that stored well so that we could enjoy it for several days versus five minutes, I instinctively knew (well, hoped may be the better word) all I had to do was add an egg and blend the butter in with everything else instead of pouring it over the top. And voilà! I was right. I love being right. Especially when it results in something so delicious!
This bread has the same flavor I fell in love with in the original beer bread, the beer giving it a nice yeasty flavor despite this being a quick bread containing no yeast (another bonus-fresh bread in under an hour!). But it is a million times prettier (smooth top versus major bumpiness), the texture is velvety soft when fresh from the oven, and the crust still has just a bit of that buttery crunch to it. And it fulfills the reason for the modification: it stores well and stays soft and moist!
While I might still make the original if we have company over since there would be less risk of leftovers, and I adore that thick, crunchy & buttery crust, this is the one I’ll be making most often because the texture is so wonderful and its ability to stay that way upon storage robs me of the justification for polishing off an entire loaf in one sitting. Which I may not be so thankful for, but my hips surely are.
*Despite this loaf storing well, we still ate half of it as soon as it was out of the oven, so I only had half a loaf (OK, maybe a little less than half, truth be told) to photograph the next day. Sorry. Our stomachs got in the way of the interests of my blog! At least we didn’t eat the whole thing this time. At least not all at once. :)
Buttery-Soft Beer Bread
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
3 cups self-rising flour*
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12-oz) can beer
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Whisk the flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Add beer, butter, and the egg, and whisk well to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
*I know it’s weird, but I really feel I get the best results using self-rising flour for this bread. However, if you do not have it, you can replace it with 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt instead. I recommend using a baking powder without aluminum, such as Rumford, particularly in this recipe since you need so much of it. The aluminum has an aftertaste and can foul up baked goods which call for quantities in excess of 1 teaspoon.
Update 2/18/15: I’ve discovered you can substitute honey for the sugar with delicious results as well, lending a light honey-sweet taste to the bread. Just look at how tender it is!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
This looks great but really Veronica, I have no problem cutting that other loaf in half and just eating the whole thing. :-)
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Brilliant! Now that you’ve gotten me and my sister Heidi addicted to your original buttery beer bread, we have a new chance at a new addiction! =) I will be trying this, make no mistake!
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I plan on making this neek week, seeing that I have 4 days off. Especially since it’s already measured and ready to go too :) It looks delicious and when I make homemade bread we usually split the loaf right out of the oven too!
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I hope you like it! If it’s not my favorite all-time bread, it’s very close, and I love that I don’t have to wait for it to rise!
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I’m glad you understood neek week….lol! Supposed to be next, of course. I’m sure I’ll love the bread…cuz me luvs bready goodiness! ;)
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LOL, didn’t even noticed that!
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Wow…you just have to put the words “butter” and “beer” together and you’ll get anybody’s attention! It looks super wonderful, Veronica! And I’ll finish a loaf of that in a day, no prblem. ;-)
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How yummy this looks! And a wonderful recipe for those many cooks with yeast-phobia! I can see how you could polish off a loaf in no time flat!
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Whenever I bake bread, there is a deep and intense danger that I will eat half a loaf in a day. I think it’s time I tested this theory yet again with this beer bread! Looks fantastic!
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Polishing off a fresh loaf of bread between two people in a day is just a reality, lol! Even this gorgeous loaf that saves well would be in danger. ;) Thanks for sharing your updated recipe with us!
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sooo excited….a beer bread that keeps! I would need to cut down on the butter, but I still think it would be ok! :)
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well… there is yeast in beer :) so beer sounds like a great addition in a bread recipe. I wonder how much yeast would you would need if using regular flour… really looks delicious and simple.
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Is the butter in the recipe salted or unsalted?
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I use salted, but since there is salt in the flour you can use unsalted. I think it’s better with the extra salt.
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I was excited to see a recipe for a softer beer bread. Imagine my disappointment when it didn’t look a thing like your picture, and still had a thick, crunchy crust.
I’ll have to be making other modifications, I guess. Because this was *not* a soft bread.
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Hmm, strange. This bread turns out incredibly soft for me. How do you measure your flour? I pour mine in so that it doesn’t get packed in. If you followed the recipe exactly (you mixed the butter in, right? and included the egg?), that’s my only thought to why it didn’t’ turn out soft for you, maybe there was more flour. Also, I do think different altitudes and different climates dramatically change baking recipes. Where are you located?
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Wonder if you can do this in the crock pot like banana bread … any thoughts?
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I’ve never made any kind of bread in the crockpot but would love to hear how it turns out if you try it! Using the oven in the summer is just too much heat.
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Here’s what started my crock pot bread baking :)
3 cups mashed bananas, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 stick melted butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 cups flour and optional 1 cup chopped nuts. Mix all ingredients well, put in a sprayed loaf pan and cover with foil … place this in your crock pot and add water between the loaf pan and crock pot sides until it comes up about 1/4 of the way. Cook on high about 3 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Currently my beer bread is baking in the crock pot so we’ll let you know how it turns out tonight or tomorrow :)
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Very cool! So how did the beer bread turn out?
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What if you don’t have self rising flour?
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Just follow the sub instructions in the recipe.
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