Buttery Beer Bread

Once a month, I attend a luncheon for non-profit fundraising professionals. We're usually treated to guest speakers and I always leave having learned one new thing and having met one new person. But, the biggest treat of all is a lunch staple: beer bread. I have no idea who caters the meal, but what I do know is that the delicious bread is a crowd pleaser. (Seriously...one month it wasn't there and the attendees almost revolted!)

I've been raving about the beer bread to my mom for almost a year, so this past week we decided to try and bake our own. We used this recipe we found online. While my dad barbequed ribs, we got busy with the side dish of buttery beer bread.

Here's what we needed:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle, 12 ounces, beer (we used Guinness)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

First, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Once those have been thoroughly combined, add the beer. We used Guinness but the recipe didn't specify what kind to use. Using a wooden spoon, mix the beer into the dry ingredients until you have a doughy consistency.

Dry ingredients with Guinness.

Mixed into dough.

 

While I was making the dough, my mom was buttering the glass baking dish.  After the dish was buttered, we added half of the melted butter stick, then the dough, and then topped the dough with more melted butter. It feels really excessive to be greasing the dish with butter and then added multiple layers of melted butter, but when baking the butter hardens to form the crust, so don't skimp on the butter! It is totally worth it. :)

 

Butter layer #1.

Butter layer #2.

 

Now, it's time to bake. We baked the bread for about 60 minutes at 350 degrees. We had to check and add a few more minutes towards the end, but it was worth the wait. It came out of the oven zizzling and perfectly golden brown.

 

 

The perfect slice!

 

The beer bread was really good. It was buttery and sweet, and the outside had the perfect crunch. It was a little different from the bread I eat at my monthly luncheons. It was darker in color and thicker in texture, which maybe is due to the dark beer. Regardless, it was delicious and we talked about making it again with chili or stews.

 

I wish I would have taken a picture of the beer bread and ribs because our dinner was so delicious, and they each complimented each other so well. I was just really excited to eat!