Baking with Beer - A Simple & Delicious Beer Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups of white flour
¼ cup brown sugar lightly packed
4 ½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
12 ounces beer, your choice in flavor
Optional: 1 chopped up and deseeded jalapeno or other vegetable/fruit

Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients and make sure brown sugar is not clumped.
Pour the beer into a separate bowl. Notice I said pour (not dump). So pour it nice and easy to reduce the foam.
Next, slowly add the dry ingredients to the beer and stir with a rubber spatula until evenly mixed. Bread will appear stringy.
Add it to your greased 9×5 bread baking loaf pan and bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes. Preheat the oven is recommended.

After it’s cooled enjoy it with some butter, jam, or plain jane with a beer in hand. Bon apetite!

“I hate being in the house when warm, fresh, sweet bread is smelling up the place” …said no one ever.

Sure you can buy bread mixes and you can buy loaves of pre-made bread, but there’s nothing like a warm, homemade bread. Especially when it takes about 5 minutes to prep and one of the five ingredients is beer. Baking with beer was quite the experiment!

I love simple ingredients and easy to follow directions ending in delicious results. However, as a dietitian I’m always wondering if there is a way to make something a smidge healthier. Could I add more fiber somehow? Glad you asked.

Adding a little more fiber to your daily intake of food has a lot of health benefits. I know we’re all here for the beer bread recipe but hear me out. Fiber filled foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains help you feel full faster, keep you full longer, and aid in maintaining a healthy digestive track. While we’re all large beer enthusiasts here, we have to be advocates for our health too.

That’s why, when I was mixing the bread dough together I threw in a freshly chopped up jalapeño! Not only did the veggie provide some boost in color but it adds flavor, fiber, and a punch of vitamin A, C and B-6.

A note of warning: If you’re not accustomed to chopping fresh jalapeños, wear gloves or wash your hands really well afterwards. And don’t touch your eyes…or any other part of your body/open wounds. The burning sensation is not pretty.

On to how to make beer bread…

Yes, only five ingredients and one of them is a 12oz beer of your choice. I chose an Oberon from Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Oberon is a wheat ale mixing a spicy hop character with mildly fruity aromas and generally it is served with a fresh orange slice (yay more fiber!). Its release date is a Michigan holiday at this point and it signifies we have made it through winter and summer’s on the way.

The citrus/fruity flavor does not come out in the bread but it did have a nice yeasty, funk smell while it was baking. Next time, I think I will add a tablespoon or more of orange zest to the mix.

I definitely recommend experimenting with the type of beer you enjoy and bake a variety of breads until you find one that sticks. The best part? You could bake this while you are home brewing and your house and brewing area will smell better than ever. Enjoy brewers!

Jessi Boehme

Jessi Boehme (pronounced like fame) is a registered dietitian and a recent graduate of Central Michigan University’s Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics, living in Beer City USA, Grand Rapids, Michigan. She works locally as a dietitian by day and by night you can find her getting flights of beer with friends and family. She’s excited to bring a nutrition and science background to the Homebrew Academy. Cheers!