it was pretty darn tasty. it had a bit of a crunch to the crust (i suppose that's where it got the first part of its name) and reminded me of a french loaf, but a bit less sweet. pretty good, pretty basic. i sliced it up and threw it into a ziploc bag in the freezer. hello sandwich bread!
let me tell a short story:
my husband loves beer. not necessarily for the purpose of getting drunk--he loves the taste of beer and loves trying different beers. i think some of his favorite memories from colorado involve beer flights and tastings of locally brewed ales.
when he was out getting my anniversary present, he almost bought me the book "artisan bread in five minutes a day" (also, might i add, a fabulous blog). he ended up choosing the book i'm currently using because while flipping through, he saw a recipe for beer bread. that made his decision quite simple. if there is a bread that contains beer, he wants it.
so naturally once i decided to start baking nearly a loaf a day he inquired where in the plan the beer bread would fall. i told him i would make it as soon as i had both beer and whole wheat flour (we had neither in the house on the sunday we were discussing this). yesterday afternoon he arrived home from work with whole wheat flour a regional beer from pennsylvania:
how could i resist? :)
here's the recipe and a few pictures!
1 1/4c beer of your preference (a decent beer, no natty lights here!)
1 1/2 tbsp, or 2 packets, active dry yeast
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1 2/3c white flour
1 1/2c whole wheat flour
warm up the beer then dissolve the sugar into it (there will be brief fizzing)
add the yeast (more fizz) and let it get nice and foamy
mix in the butter, then the whole wheat flour (1/2c at a time), then the salt, then the white flour (1/2c at a time again) until a dough has formed.
tip the dough out of the bowl on to a lightly floured counter and start kneading. knead for 5 minutes, until the dough is nice and smooth.
put the dough in a greased bowl in a warm spot to rest for 2 hours.
tip the dough back on to the floured surface, shape it into a ball and put it on a greased baking sheet. cut criss-cross slits across the top with a sharp knife, then back to the warm place to rise for one more hour.
bake at 400 for about 30 minutes.
as far as notes about this bread, i thought it was a beautifully colored dough. it was easy to knead and smelled pretty good. it has a nice crust, and here's something i didn't expect-- and haven't seen until this loaf: it rose outward.
the whole loaf is incredibly puffy, which makes sense given the yeast in the beer and the addition of more yeast. but instead of puffing up really high, it puffed out really wide. so we have a rather short, wide loaf of yummy bread. i'm trying to figure out exactly what we'll end up using this for. my guess? i'll unfreeze it and broil it with cheese on top or toast it up to use as dippers for a party. either way, it's going to be delicious. and E is quite happy!
for now i cut off a slice, cut it in half and made a thin meatloaf sandwich out of it. meatloaf+beer(bread) in the middle of an army school day=winner.
by the by, both boys are doing much better!!! turns out jp has his bottom two eye teeth breaking though his gums, so i'm sure that was not helping his sickly state. hopefully this will be the worst we get of the flu season, but if it's not, i'll have plenty of comfort food on hand :)
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