Ever since my family has discovered the food company Tastefully Simple, I’ve eaten a lot of beer bread made with their mix. But even though this bread has a nice texture – a cross between cake and bread – and is buttery and salty, I’ve never tasted the beer.
That could be because my family makes their loaves with a light beer that may not have enough flavor to withstand baking. Still, I wondered, when used in bread, would any of the beer’s flavor cook off after 45 minutes in the oven?
So I decided to do an experiment: I would bake two loaves of beer bread with two different types of beer to see how different they taste.
My two choices? Flying Dog Brewery’s golden ale – a “refreshing, light, warm weather slammer with a flavorful hop edge” – and a porter – a “dark, rich, and malty beer”. (Aside from taste, I love the quirky sketches on this Frederick, Maryland brewery’s labels, one of which looks like a a cross between a Gremlin and a werewolf.)
Flying Dog Brewery golden ale, Flying Dog Brewery porter
Then, I used the Farmgirl Fare blog’s whole wheat beer bread recipe. In two hours, Kenny and I were ready to sample.
Our conclusion?
Both loaves are tasty, but neither of us could taste the beer in the lighter golden ale version.
However, in the second loaf I tasted a hint of that malty porter flavor at the very end of chewing. Kenny didn’t taste beer, but he agreed that the second loaf had more flavor.
Thus, because of its extra flavor punch, we decided the porter loaf tastes better.
I also learned something else about beer bread in the process: this is the easiest bread I’ve ever made. With just flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and beer, the ingredients come together quickly with a spoon. Then the mixture goes straight into the pan to bake. About an hour later, it’s ready to eat.
Beer bread dough comes together in minutes, and goes straight to the pan for baking.
Have you ever made beer bread? What type of beer do you use?
I’ve never made beer bread–but I wonder what it would taste like with one of the “super” beers like Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout. That stuff is seriously strong!
@Beth: I’ve never had the World Wide Stout. But if you say it’s that strong, it would make for an interesting beer bread experiment. I’ll keep it in mind for next time!
that’s a great beer. and also expensive. if you can afford to cook with it, i’m very interested in hearing how it turns out.
Hello! Long time reader, first time commenter (I think?)
The breads look great, and I was wondering if you could post a specific recipe that you used? I recently relocated to South Korea from Ohio, and it is next to impossible to find ‘real’ bread that isn’t sweetened here. I’d love to find a simple recipe for some easy-to-make bread that I could throw together regularly- I use to eat two heavy sandwiches a day in the states, and I really miss it!
Another complication (and thus a separate question) is do you know of any way to bake without an oven? I know it may seem like a silly question, but ovens are uncommon here and I dearly miss baking.
Thanks!
@hg: I’ll keep World Wide Stout beer bread in mind for a future post. Thanks!
@Colin: Thanks so much for reading, and for commenting today. This is the recipe I used for the whole wheat beer bread. (It’s another blogger’s recipe, which is why I’m linking to it instead of posting it on my site.) As for cooking without an oven, that’s a good question. Do you have a toaster oven? I’ve never tried baking in one, but I have a feeling it would work for things like cookies and small square cakes. Here’s some recipes for cookies that can be made in the toaster oven. You could also do a google search for “toaster oven bread recipes”. Since the beer bread is made in a loaf pan, I think that would be a good toaster oven bread candidate. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
I just came across your site, and I really like it! I came across about 10 posts right off the bat that I had to read.
I’d definitely be interested to hear the results of a world wide stout bread. Like others have said, the stuff is strong..I wonder if you can taste alcohol in bread? :p
@Rodzilla: Thanks so much for stopping by and reading! That’s a few votes for the world wide stout beer bread. Now I just have to figure out where to buy it…