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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Martha's Beer Bread


I have an old recipe book I bought years ago at a garage sale - The New Cookbook for Poor Poets by Ann Rogers. It is a great book with lots of interesting and frugal-ish recipes.

One that has always intrigued me is called Beer Bread and it only has 3 - yes 3 ingredients. One of them is self-rising flour, something I don't usually (or ever have on hand). But the other day I sent my almost 18 year old daughter to the store for flour and she came home with self-rising. So, I decided to give it a try.

I used a bottle of my husbands Dark Beck's Beer - note to self - don't use such a dark beer again - too strong. BUT it turned out and is fairly tasty. I can't wait to try other flavors of beer!

I know my friend girlichef has a wonderful  yeasted beer bread recipe that involves some kneading and rising - and looks amazing. I know it is worth the extra effort!

If you have bread issues - you know, you wake up at night in sweat thinking about making bread, or every loaf you have made is now a door stop -then this recipe is for you!

My recipe has no kneading, no rising, and goes together in like 5 minutes.


Martha's Beer Bread 
(I don't know who Martha is but want her to get her credit!)

3 cups self rising flour
3 TBS sugar
1 - 12oz bottle of warm beer

Combine the flour and sugar and stir in the beer. Spoon dough into a well-buttered loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees  for 45 minutes.
She suggests for variations to add  to the dry ingredients a 1/4 cup of wheat germ or a 1/2 cup of raisins.

This bread is really easy and fabulously delicious.

Oh, and while I haven't tried it - if you don't have self rising flour you can just add together 1 tsp of salt and
1 TBS of baking powder.

Additional variations are really endless -

I would imagine that adding up to a 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese would be delicious along with some Italian seasonings.

I was thinking that on my next loaf I would make a garlic and herb loaf - adding 1 tsp dried: rosemary,  oregano, thyme and garlic.

If you wanted it a little healthier you could substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour for 2 cups of the white - you would need to add the salt and baking powder. 

Christmas Gift Alert - This would be a great Christmas gift and super simple. Put together the dry ingredients in a pretty glass jar, attach the "directions" and a bottle of beer if you want - voila' an impressive gift. Just don't share how easy the mix is ;o)

I am linking this to the following blog parties:
WhoIsLaura.com's Tasty Tuesday
Life as Mom's Frugal Friday
Ann Kroeker's Food on Friday
Brenda's Canadian Kitchen's Cookbook Sunday
12 Days of Bloggie-mas - The Eleventh Day - Bread @ A Moderate Life

13 comments:

  1. I can't believe there are only 3 ingredients in that bread. I have made beer bread before, but it definitely was more complicated. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  2. Awesome, Christy!! Love the 3 simple ingredients (and I love Beck's Dark...like it strong)...this definitely makes great gifts. Thanks for the shout-out!! =)

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  3. Wooowww just 3 ingredients???? unbelievable. Looks very delicious.:-)

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  4. I can't believe this is so simple! Christy, this looks great and I may even have to try this (I don't like beer though...) Love the gift idea!

    Thanks for sharing at Tasty Tuesday @ WhoIsLaura.com

    Dr. Laura

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  5. This looks amazing, and so quick and easy!! It looks like perfect sandwich bread...

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  6. This sounds totally awesome! I wonder how it would be with pumpkin beer...

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  7. Looks terrific, Christy, and only 3 ingredients - yes!

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  8. Thanks everyone for stopping and commenting - it is crazy but it really is super easy!
    Joanne - I have never had pumpkin beer - hmm, I wonder if you could taste it?? Let me know if you try it!

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  9. Love the idea of this bread - no kneading, and using beer instead of yeast. Lots of possibilities to springboard this one - maybe trying with a really dark beer or stout and some rye flour. Thanks for sharing it.
    Sue

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  10. Hey Christy! Heather made a beer bread a few weeks back on her blog and now you. I think I will have to try one of these recipes out because they certainly look awesome, and I always have beer around. Hugs! Alex

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  11. Thanks for sharing. Will definitely try. Previous attempts have always been in the "door stop" category.

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  12. My mom used to make this beer bread when I was a kid. I remember it tasting so good and being perfect with soup.

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  13. This is unbelievable! I can't believe it's that easy with so few ingredients. Wow, pretty cool! Thank you for sharing this Christy on Cookbook Sundays!

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