Assorted Breads

Unlike most of the quick breads out there this recipe does involve a little kneading and do note that I did say a “little” but it’s worth it when you remove your loaf from the oven and finally get to go at it. You might consider slicing thickly or if you used a long loaf pan then just pull it apart. This is what they mean by “breaking bread”.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups 0f All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup each of Whole Wheat Flour and Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 12 Ounces of Lager or Stout
• 1/3 Cup of Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter
• 4½ Teaspoons of Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon each of Garlic Powder, Freshly Ground Sea Salt and Poppy Seeds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil a loaf pan ready for baking. Linseed oil is ideal for greasing pans that you intend baking bread of all sorts in especially those with yeast and while this recipe doesn’t involve yeast I would still use the linseed oil by choice. Do take care if using a non-stick cooking spray as I always seem to run into difficulties with it.
2. Melt the butter
3. Use a large mixing bowl and add in the all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, the sugar, the baking soda, the freshly ground sea salt and the garlic powder. Use a whisk to thoroughly combine all ingredients.
4. Now add the shredded cheese and continue to whisk until the mixture is once again well and truly combined
5. While stirring lightly slowly add the beer to the dry ingredients and keep stirring lightly until this mixture is combined
6. Knead the dough lightly until it has just come together. Shape dough so that it forms a roll that is roughly the same length and width as your loaf pan but a little short all round. Then transfer the dough to your already prepared loaf pan.
7. Slowly pour the melted butter over the top of the dough such that all of the upper quarter of exposed dough surface gets a covering of butter. Sprinkle the poppy seeds over the top of the buttered dough.
8. Place loaf pan into your preheated oven (350 F.) and bake for around 60 minutes. To test whether the bread is cooked; insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf and then withdraw it. If the toothpick comes out clean the bread is cooked.
9. Another option to using a loaf tin is to form the dough into a round and cook it on a narrow cookie sheet as in Figure 2 below. Note that the two sides are relatively straight. This means they were either in contact with the sides of a tray or in contact with another loaf.

Loaf of Round Bread

Let bread cool a little and then invert your dough pan over a wire rack and with a light rap on the bottom of the loaf pan the cooked loaf of bread should just pop out of the loaf tin. Let bread cool on wire rack.

Loaf of Beer Bread without Poppy Seeds

Note I did not make the bread shown in the image above. It is not too hard to tell as there are no poppy seeds in sight. The reason I am showing you this is that while the bread tasted quite OK if the cook had spent a moment or two forming and shaping the dough prior to putting in loaf tin it would have turned out a whole lot more attractive. The melted butter also contributes to the production of a loaf with a less coarse surface.

Serving

Use a bread knife to cut your bread. While still warm try thicker slices than you would expect to find in the pre-sliced manufactured breads (see Fig.4 below) and spread on a couple of dollops of butter and consume. You may want to apply a spread but take into consideration that the bread will already have a nice cheesy flavor already.

Pre-Sliced Bread

Served warm and buttered alongside a nice hearty stew or casserole or even a bowl of hot vegetable soup this bread will certainly add extra appeal and earthiness to a cold winter’s day. Enjoy!!!