I’m not the world’s greatest imbiber of alcohol. Despite that, I decided to buy a 12-pack of Sam Adams’s Beers for Cheers just before Christmas. A week later I was staring into the contents of a 12-oz can, wondering how in the world I’d get it all down. I managed, eventually, but left the rest of the pack for later.
Christmas came and went but the beer stayed, nice and cold, in the back hall. No one wanted any, since most of my friends and family are teetotalers. My in-laws, who do indulge, were out with covid.
What to do, what to do? I decided to go in search of recipes that called for various iterations of beer. I had IPAs, spiced beer, lager and porter. Surely I could find interesting recipes using these. Eventually, I came across a beer bread recipe in Tieghan Gerard’s excellent food blog, Half-Baked Harvest. I’m very fond of beer bread and hadn’t made a loaf in quite a long time, so it seemed like an excellent place to start. It was a simple recipe, just five ingredients including salt. The recipe also called for lots of butter, which couldn’t be a bad thing. I selected a light beer at random and got out my flours.
The Magic IngredientThe recipe was simplicity itself. I started with the dry ingredients and, once mixed, dumped in a 12-oz can of spiced beer and a bit of honey. I scooped it into a greased bread pan once everything was combined and cut six tablespoons of butter into smaller pieces to lay across the top. I baked the bread for 50 minutes or so, then pulled it out and took a look. The loaf was beautifully browned and looked delicious. However, I wasn’t as thrilled with the molten butter that had collected at the bottom of the pan. How was I going to tip the bread out onto the bread pan without burning my arms in the process, never mind how I was going to clean puddles of butter off of the kitchen floor? I had expected the butter to melt into the batter, not dribble all over my kitchen counter. Maybe some butter had gotten into the bread but a lot of was still in the pan, bubbling away. I grabbed a pot holder and held it over the bread as I tipped the pan into the sink. Now devoid of extra butter, I could cool the bread on its wire rack. It still looked delicious, even with half the butter now circling my kitchen drain. After an hour or so of cooling I cut it open and tried a piece. It tasted as good as it looked, with a tight, moist crumb and a very faint after-taste of beer. The bread was only slightly sweet and would make an excellent accompaniment to dinner as well as breakfast or lunch. Beautiful and delicious, the best of both worlds.
Not Just Another Pretty FaceI’d definitely make this bread again, although I would cut back on the butter. I may regret that decision, if the surplus butter serves a purpose other than coating the bottom of my kitchen sink. I’ll just have to see how it turns out. Full complement of butter or no, this bread should make it to your table. It’s easy and delicious. And do try some of Tieghan’s other recipes. They’re winners!
Here’s a link to her five-ingredient beer bread: