Beer Bread. What can I say, it has that rich beer flavor, is a good hearty bread , and tastes wonderful paired with stews and soups or just have it on its own with a slather of butter.

Gerald Norman is the author of a recipe which I adapted this from. It is so good that you can change the flavors of the bread to match the beer as I did here. Basically, this bread has a buttery crunchy top which is mouth watering and if you don’t like the crunch you can mix in the butter for a softer loaf.

Using a Banana beer, my add-in for this recipe was of course, banana. With a sprinkling of Turbinado sugar and Kosher salt mix dabbled on the top, rounded out the flavors. I paired it with my trusty basic Tomato Soup Recipe and you can click on the link below to get it. It is perfect with this bread.

~Beer Bread~

Course: Baked GoodsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hour

Adapted from recipe from Gerald Norman, this bread is an easy go to for any beer flavors and add-ins.

Ingredients

3 c Flour Sifted Bread Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
¼ c Sugar Granulated
12 oz Beer Your Choice
½ c Butter Melted
Add-Ins
½ Banana Smashed
½ c Walnuts Chopped
1 tbsp Turbinado Sugar
1 tbsp Kosher Salt
4 Cloves Garlic Mashed and minced

Directions

Preheat Oven 375°
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt together then add the sugar. Whisk, then add the beer. Let the beer soak up some of the flour then stir it in with a spoon.
The batter will be thick.
This is where I added about a half of a ripe banana, garlic (crushed and minced), and chopped nuts for a little added flavor and moistness. But this is all optional. Move to the next instruction if you want to skip this.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread it out and then pour the melted butter on the top.
Adding the butter on the top is my favorite on this recipe. It gives the bread a really crunchy crust. However, in Mr. Norman’s instructions you can actually blend the butter into the recipe for more moistness and a less crunchy top.
Top with sprinkles of Turbinado Sugar and Kosher Salt. Again, this is optional.
Bake for just about 1 hour. This recipe is pretty true to the timing. Check with a tester.
Take out when done and let cool a few minutes before taking it out of the pan and cooling on a rack.
However, I could not do that… I ate a good piece piping hot and the crunch is phenomenal.

Notes

Make sure you sift the flour. I have made this a few times and unless you sift you will get a very dense bread. So sift.
Do not over mix. Again mix it until the beer has taken in all the moisture from the flour and just a tad more. Mix with a spoon.
Beer: Use any flavor you like. I used a banana nut beer so I wanted to add in like flavors. The beer I also used was only 11.2 ounces which made my batter a little thick. So I added a very moist and very ripe smashed banana (about half of one) which blended well with the beer choice.
In the past, I have added cheeses, garlic, onions, you name it. This recipe from Mr. Gerald Norman is terrific for add-ins.
Pair this with soups and stews. It can take the flavors of Fall and Winter beautifully because of the beer sweetness. I paired it with tomato soup and it was yum and you can get that by clicking the link below or going into my recipe section.

This recipe is incredibly easy and as this recipe states, it is very adaptable to adding ingredients such as garlic, cheeses, savory spices, nuts and such.