Easy Beer Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best beer to make beer bread with? ›

Lighter beers, such as lagers, ales and pilsners, will give your bread a lighter color, and mild taste that just about everyone loves. Darker beers like stouts and porters make a darker-colored loaf and have a stronger beer flavor. Hoppy beers like IPAs will give your bread a more bitter taste.

Beer has yeast, but it doesn't always have enough to make the bread rise on its own. Craft brews sometimes leave the live yeast in (it forms a sort of sediment in the bottle), but mass-produced beers usually filter it out. If you relied on just the beer for rising, it might come out too dense.

Your beer isn't cold yet! Well, don't worry, because when making our beer bread, you can use warm OR cold beer! When pouring the beer into the bowl with the mix, we recommend pouring slowly, so it doesn't over-bubble. The same goes for any carbonated beverage you use to make our Beer Bread Mix; cold or hot will work!

The strains of yeast used to make beer, bread, and wine come from the species of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. S. cerevisiae is known as “brewer's yeast” or “baker's yeast” for good reason: it's responsible for the fermentation that makes beer alcoholic and allows a lump of dough to rise into a loaf of bread.

If you bake an overworked dough, it will come out hard. Even though you aren't kneading beer bread, the same principle applies. It can be harder to tell when the dough is overworked, though, since you won't feel it in your hands and the mixture isn't supposed to be smooth. Instead, rely on your eyes.

Well, from my experience, 1 packet of dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons) can work its magic for around 4 cups (about 544 grams of flour) – slightly more than 2 packets of fresh yeast or 3/4 packet of instant yeast.

Too much yeast can lead to an overly active fermentation process, which can cause a beer to become too carbonated. When this happens, the yeast consumes sugars and produces carbon dioxide gas. The gas builds up in the beer, causing it to become excessively foamy and carbonated.

However, despite their similarities, people are advised to avoid using bakers yeast to ferment beer because it can lead undesirable off-flavors. The reason brewers yeasts work so well is that they've been cultivated for hundreds of years to produce the specific characteristics expected in beer.

What is the main thing to avoid when making quick breads? ›

Don't Overmix

When stirring up quick bread recipes, it's important not to overmix the batter once you've added flour. Instead, mix until the liquid and dry ingredients are just combined. And, yes, it's OK to have a few small lumps leftover.

Quick breads use the chemical leavening agents of baking powder and/or baking soda. Baking powder and baking soda do not require time for rising, so the batter for quick bread is cooked immediately after mixing.

Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted about 1/2" into the top of the loaf comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

Can You Use Something Other Than Beer in Beer Bread? Absolutely! Almost any carbonated or noncarbonated beverage can be used, including water, soda pop, milk or buttermilk, fruit juice and even creamed corn! In general substitute 12 fluid ounces of whatever liquid you choose in place of beer.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), baked or simmered dishes that contain alcohol will retain 40% of the original amount after 15 minutes of cooking, 35% after 30 minutes and 25% after an hour. But there's no point at which all of the alcohol disappears.

If you're new to baking with beer, porters and stouts are the best place to begin.

It's also the phrase you'll find gracing each box of Trader Joe's Beer Bread Mix. The flavor of the finished loaf really depends on what kind of beer you use: Go with a lager for a lighter profile, an IPA for a hearty, hoppy taste, or a stout for a rich result with a slightly darker finished product.

Wheat beers are great for chicken and seafood. If you're cooking pork, beef, and lamb, you will need ales, porters, and stouts. Hearty meat goes well with belgian ales. Stews pair well with ale.

I've made beer bread with everything from craft beers (Allagash White, Moosehead, etc.), to commercial beers like Heineken, Miller Highlife, and Samuel Adams Boston Lager (which we found lends more of a pronounced aroma than others on the list, and didn't make our favorite loaf).