Beer bread: ten minutes of work and no yeast at all
One of the fastest breads you can make, and a good way to start baking at all. There is no kneading, no rising and no yeast: it is lifted by baking powder, helped along by the bubbles in the beer. The beer also brings a flavour water never could — the malt leaves a nutty, caramel note that is clearly present in the finished loaf. From opening the bottle to taking the bread out takes an hour.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Mixing 10 min
- Baking 50 min
- Cooling 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneMix the dry ingredients
Heat the oven to 190 °C. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt thoroughly. Four teaspoons of baking powder is a lot, and it should be: with no yeast it does the work of lifting half a kilo of flour. The sugar is not there to sweeten but to help the crust brown.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 500 ml beer · 4 tsp baking powder · 2 tbsp sugar · 1½ tsp salt
Four teaspoons of powder, not a misprintPour in the beer and stir briefly
Pour in the beer at room temperature — it will foam hard, which is what you want. Stir with a wooden spoon only until combined, about 20 strokes. The batter should be thick and shaggy, with visible lumps. Stirring on develops gluten and the loaf comes out dense.
TipBeer straight from the fridge chills the batter and the centre of the loaf takes longer to bake through. Take the bottle out half an hour ahead if you remember.
Twenty strokes, lumps stayScrape into the tin and pour over butter
Scrape the batter into a lined 30 cm loaf tin and level it roughly. Pour melted butter over the top and scatter with seeds. Butter on the surface soaks in and forms a crust that crackles and browns by itself.
Ingredients: 50 g butter · 2 tbsp mixed seeds
Butter over the top, not stirred inBake fifty minutes
Bake 50 minutes at 190 °C, until the loaf splits along the top and is deeply browned. Test with a skewer at the thickest point: it should come out dry. If the top colours too fast, cover with foil after 35 minutes.
A split top and deep brown colourCool at least ten minutes
Turn it out and cool on a rack at least 10 minutes, ideally half an hour. This bread has a close, moist crumb and sliced straight from the oven it will gum up the knife.
Ten minutes on the rack before the knife
Before you start
Which beer
A pale lager gives a mild, neutral loaf. Dark beer, porter or stout give a clearly malty, almost rye-like character and a darker crumb. Heavily hopped beers (IPA) leave a bitterness — use them deliberately.
Alcohol free works too
The alcohol plays no part in the rise, so alcohol-free beer gives the same result. Most of the alcohol evaporates during baking, but not all of it — if the bread is for children, use alcohol-free beer.
Cheese version
150 g of grated hard cheese and a spoon of chopped garlic stirred into the dry ingredients. It is one of the most popular variations and excellent with stews and soups.
How long it stays fresh
Two days, then it dries out noticeably. It toasts beautifully though, and makes excellent croutons — toasting brings the malt flavour forward.
