When I was in high school, my two best friends, Katy and Laura, showed me how to make beer bread. If you have self-rising flour, its an astonishing 4 ingredient recipe. Laura and I would bake beer bread and make peanut butter-honey cracker sandwiches for track and cross country meets. Katy and I would sneak down to her kitchen in the middle of the night and bake beer bread, tipsy of sips of her mom's liquor cabinet or beers. To this day, some of my fondest memories are those I have had giggling in the kitchen with my best girl friends over the years.
I have tried to make beer bread a couple times in Bulgaria. It hasn't been successful. Each time, I must have mismeasured the beer or another ingredient, and it just hasn't come out as the simple goodness that I know it can and loves to be. The last time I went to the grocery store, recently frustrated by a horrendously bad batch, I splurged 3 лева ($2) on a Corona. I wanted to make beer bread that was good, and if it took buying imported beer so I was using more familiar ingredients, then so be it. I carefully measured and rechecked the recipe. I tasted the last sip of Corona and wished that it, too, came in 500 ml bottles instead of 335 so that I could have a drink while the bread cooked. Then I stuck it in the oven and watched it rise, get its buttery coat, and turn into a deliciously browned butter crusted loaf. My beer bread was back in business. Phew. I still want to make little beer bread muffins, but I needed a success under my belt before my confidence returned and I could experiment again.
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/4 cup melted butter
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together. Pour beer in and stir. Dough will be very sticky. Pour into a buttered loaf pan.
Cook for an hour. Halfway through, melt butter and pour over top of loaf. This will make a delicious buttery crust that is essentially the reason I make and dream of this recipe.
I have tried to make beer bread a couple times in Bulgaria. It hasn't been successful. Each time, I must have mismeasured the beer or another ingredient, and it just hasn't come out as the simple goodness that I know it can and loves to be. The last time I went to the grocery store, recently frustrated by a horrendously bad batch, I splurged 3 лева ($2) on a Corona. I wanted to make beer bread that was good, and if it took buying imported beer so I was using more familiar ingredients, then so be it. I carefully measured and rechecked the recipe. I tasted the last sip of Corona and wished that it, too, came in 500 ml bottles instead of 335 so that I could have a drink while the bread cooked. Then I stuck it in the oven and watched it rise, get its buttery coat, and turn into a deliciously browned butter crusted loaf. My beer bread was back in business. Phew. I still want to make little beer bread muffins, but I needed a success under my belt before my confidence returned and I could experiment again.
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/4 cup melted butter
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together. Pour beer in and stir. Dough will be very sticky. Pour into a buttered loaf pan.
Cook for an hour. Halfway through, melt butter and pour over top of loaf. This will make a delicious buttery crust that is essentially the reason I make and dream of this recipe.
No comments:
Post a Comment