I occassionally take on some pretty nutty baking projects that leave me exhausted, so I think that my idea of what is considered “easy” might give some people a coronary. I insisted to a friend that these scones were easy, and I think she was cursing me while trying to figure out how to disperse the butter through the dough.
But, I think this recipe here is objectively easy. One bowl, 6 ingredients, and it takes about 2 minutes to mix it all up. And, if you are the type of person who keeps beer in their fridge at all times, you probably won’t even need to go to the store for ingredients to do this.
I got the recipe from the blog Ezra Pound Cake, who kindly gave me permission to publish it here. There are lots of other beer bread recipes out there, but the simplicity of this one really made it sound appealling. I think any kind of beer would work. I used a Pumpkin Ale, which made the bread smell like pumpkin, though I wouldn’t say it tasted particularly pumpkiny. Maybe next time, I’ll add a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon just to bring that flavor out a little more.
It’s fabulous warm out of the oven, with a bit of butter or nothing at all.
Beer Bread
From Rebecca Crump at ezrapoundcake.com
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
1/4 to 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (I used 1/4 cup and didn’t find it lacking in buttery goodness)
Directions
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 into the dry ingredients until just mixed.
It should take just a minute to come together. The batter will be very sticky.
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. It’ll be too sticky to get it to lay flat and smooth. Just try to make sure it’s mostly evenly distributed in the pan so it bakes evenly.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.
this looks really good…. what did you eat it with?
Right out of the oven – nothing. Just plain with a glass of cider. This morning (yes, beer bread for breakfast!) with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of vanilla sugar. Yum!
Looks like your beer bread came out great! I wonder if some pumpkin butter would bring out that pumpkin ale flavor. Sounds delicious.
I read your blog all the time and sometimes try a recipe and most of the time just enjoy your writing and humor, but this BLEW me away. It is like the only bread we eat now. It is amazing. I don’t even wan to try spiced beer – my husband and I love it. Fast, easy and makes our soup night ten times better!
Lizzie, thank you so much!