honey beer bread
November 19th, 2009
Every time we throw a party, it seems that leftover beer is always left as a little thank-you gift in our kitchen. Which would be a delightful little surprise — except that (as I’ve mentioned before), my roomie and I are not beer-drinkers. I’ve just never gotten into the taste+carbonation, and she’s an uber-serious runner and pretty much always sticks to water. So day after day this month, we’ve walked by this nice little 6-pack from a favorite local brewery, wondering what will become of it.
And then one day, we were both in the kitchen talking about what we were planning to cook the next day, and the answer was the same (surprise!) — beer bread! :) Ah, the fun of living with another baker. So sure enough, our house has been filled with the unbelievable smell of freshly-baked bread this month. Maybe not what our friends intended…but I’m all for it!
We all ended up loving this recipe as well. The buttery, honey-wheat goodness is absolutely delicious — especially fresh from the oven. And the batter literally takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. What could be more simple??
So to all of you beer-drinkers and/or beer-bakers out there, I say….bring on the bread!!! :)
Honey Beer Bread Recipe
(Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake)
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
- 4 Tbsp. (half stick) butter, melted (**You can double this if you’d like**)
Method:
(Makes 1 loaf)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 3″ inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. (I recommend popping your honey in the microwave for a few seconds beforehand to make it easier to stir in!)
Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. (Use a pastry brush to spread it around if you’d like.)
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve immediately.
Ali’s Tip:
If you’re a big fan of beer-cheese bread, add a cup or so of cheddar (or your favorite cheese) into the batter to give it the queso-kick. :)
I can’t wait to try this.
I made this today. Although it is good, I really don’t think you can just put any beer in the recipe. The only beer I had on hand was Shiner Black Lager and it’s just okay. I bet if I had some wheat or honey beer the bread would be gone in a matter of minutes.
What kind of beer do you normally use? Just curious.
I’m proud the say the top of my bread looked just like your pictures. :) But it’s much darker due to the type of beer I used. I’m going to give it another try when I have a “lighter” beer in the fridge. Thanks!!
This sounds and looks delicious! I’ll be trying this tomorrow, actually. My mouth is watering already…
Do you think this bread would freeze well? I usually make two batches of bread at a time and freeze the second loaf for eating later. Does anyone know if the alcohol will affect freezing at all?
Can I Refrigerate the Batter for Later …?
Ok so just have to say this is by far the best beer bread recipe I have ever tried. Also wanted to share that Maui Brewing Co. has a mana wheat beer that is brewed with pineapple juice that is the perfect compliment to this recipe.
I made this bread last night. It is amazing. I used Blue Moon. Very nice
This is a great beer bread recipe. The honey really adds to it! I am going to try omitting the sugar and use just honey next time. Thanks!
Is the dough supposed to be all goopy and lumpy? Making this now and have it in the oven, I added a bit more flour to the dough because it was a wet sopping mess :(
Also why is the butter put at the bottom of the loaf pan vs. in the dough?
Had a friend make this and recommend your recipe. Do you think subbing whole wheat flour for some of the 3 C all purpose would be OK?
i make this all the time for my husband, but i use 3 cups of self rising flour so i dont need to use the baking powder, and i use brown sugar instead of white, and i have added italian seasoning(dry packet) or spinch dip(dry pkg) or french onion(dry) or garlic ceddar, all are very good!
amazing! not only did this make my entire apartment smell amazing, but I dare say its the most delicious this ive ever made. wow.
Eating this now. Love the texture of the bread, moist and dense—-delicious! Used Bud light because we had it, definitely will try with a honey wheat some time.
I made this bread today and it was delicious! I used a bottle of yuengling. The bread was so moist and buttery. My husband and I ate half the loaf in one sitting.
@ Ben: no, you can’t refrigerate the batter. Quick breads like this one depend on the chemical reaction of baking soda + moisture to rise, so once you mix the batter, it’s a ticking clock (unlike yeast dough, which can chill in the fridge for a considerable amount of time). If you let it sit until the reaction is over, it won’t rise in the oven.
Looking forward to trying this. Looks delicious:-)