Beer Bread

In an attempt to make more of our own bread, I'm experimenting with the recipes in the Bread cookbook that the hubby bought me for Christmas. (Best husband ever, y/y?) This one caught my eye because it required no yeast and no buttermilk (the book has a strange affinity for buttermilk). It also turned out to be ridiculously easy. Homemade bread in less than an hour? Sign me up.

Makes: 1 9" X 5" loaf

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 oz bottle room temperature beer
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375F
GREASE 9" x 5" loaf pan with a little bit of the butter

COMBINE dry ingredients in a medium bowl
POUR in beer
STIR until just combined (it will be crazy lumpy)
POUR into prepared pan

PLACE butter in a small microwave safe bowl
MELT in the microwave
POUR over the top of the dough

BAKE for 35-40 minutes until a tester comes out clean

LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. This was easy, easy, easy. My husband could not stop eating this and it was a perfect accompaniment to soup. We will be making a LOT of this.

2. The type of beer you use will change the flavor. We had Corona Light on hand, so that's what we used. The bread had a faintly Corona-y smell, but a very light, non-beer-y flavor. The flavor does get more pronounced with time though, I find that Corona in breads will tend to give the bread almost a dusty taste by the day after. So bake, eat, enjoy! Just don't plan for lots of leftovers. : )

3. The butter seeped into the bread and gave it a buttery flavor, though the hubby still preferred it with butter. The texture was lovely, dense and soft. See?