This beer bread offers all the pleasure of a homemade loaf in less than an hour.
Photo Credit : Amy Traverso
With its raw ingredients of grain and yeast, beer is sometimes described as liquid bread. So it’s only natural to bake a quick bread using beer, which adds flavor and helps the bread rise, making this beer bread one of the easiest loaves you’ll ever prepare: no kneading, no rising time. A little baking powder helps with the leavening, while cheddar and scallions add flavor.
Cheddar-Scallion Beer Bread
Total Time: 50 minutes
Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
Note: The type of beer you use when making beer bread will strongly influence the flavor. I recommend avoiding strongly hopped beers, such as IPA, in favor of something malty or nutty, like a Newcastle Brown Ale, an Oatmeal Stout, or a fruity Hefeweizen.
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely grated sharp Cheddar cheese
3 scallions, sliced very thinly crosswise
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 12-ounce bottle beer (see Note)
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×5-inch bread pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cheese, scallions, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the beer all at once, mixing only until just combined; the batter will appear lumpy.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm, with or without butter.
Food Editor Amy Traverso oversees the Yankee Magazine Food department and contributes to NewEngland.com. Amy's book, The Apple Lover's Cookbook (W.W. Norton), won an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award for the category American.