How to Make Beer Bread (2024)

FAQs

What beer works best for beer bread? ›

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.

Overmixing the batter can cause the bread to turn out tough or crumbly. Stir gently and stop as soon as the flour disappears (and any mix-ins are incorporated). Customize Your Bread. This isn't a beer bread mix, so you can have fun with 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.

The average slice of white bread has approximately 70 calories while the average beer has approximately 150 calories. Dividing the two, that's a little over 2 slices per beer.

If you over-pitch, or dump in too much yeast, your squadron of cells might over-accomplish its mission, thereby fermenting too fast and stripping the beer of much of its desired character. If you're aiming for esters and other complexities that arise during fermentation, you might not get them.

I've had great results with leftover lager yeast. I include the slurry in the liquid portion of the bread. I put the liquid in a bowl of the flour and salt, stir only 1/3 of the flour in, cover, and let ferment 12 hours at 10C. In the morning I stir in and knead the rest of the flour, then rise at room temperature.

What happens when you forget to add yeast to homebrew ale or beer? If you have sanitized everything properly, and the container is properly sealed, nothing happens. The wort just sits there and does nothing. The sugars in the wort don't ferment and no alcohol is produced.

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).

Why does my homemade bread taste like beer? ›

If your bread has a sour, yeasty flavour and smells of alcohol then you have either used too much yeast.or you may have use stale yeast or creamed fresh yeast with sugar.

Dark beers will make the bread taste maltier, more robust; light beers flavor the bread less. Avoid extra hoppy beers, like IPA which can make the bread taste a little bitter.

Pro tip: As a good rule of thumb, keep in mind that whatever type of beer you use, the flavor will come through in your fresh-baked bread. Darker beer, like stouts and porters, will produce bread with more robust, pronounced flavors. Likewise, a blonde ale or pilsner will make a milder, lighter loaf.

You can even use non-alcoholic beer, if you'd prefer. What really matters is the yeast. Just be aware that using certain beers can influence the overall taste of your bread. If you're using a fruit beer, but want to make a cheese and garlic beer bread, your flavors might not mesh too well.

I make it with lemon-lime soda (like Sprite or 7-Up). It has just a slightly smaller rise that is barely noticeable. Because of the additional sugar content, it browns just slightly more. Overall, soda is a great substitute for beer in this recipe.

Most are fair game for beer batter (Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois, Modelo, and Firestone Pivo Pils are particularly nice), with the exception of Bohemian pilsner, which comes with a heavy dose of spices that can change the overall flavor of your dish. In a beer batter, pilsner is one of the more low-key options.

When baking with beer, amber and brown ales behave just as nicely as porters and stouts. Their low bitterness and nutty flavor with hints of caramel work well with cookies, pies, and sweet sauces.

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.

The yeast in the beer interacts with the sugar to help the bread to rise (and the baking powder gives the bread an additional boost to keep it from becoming dense). Be wise, however, in choosing the beer you use. A beer with fruit tones will lend a sweeter, fruity bread.