I love bread… all that carbohydratey goodness that you know you really shouldn’t be eating a second helping of but do anyway. Well this is a super easy, super fast, super tasty bread that you wont be able to resist. It uses beer and baking powder as its leavening agents so there is no need to fuss around with dried yeast or prooving time, rising temperature and whatnot.

I think its best if you use a reasonably nice beer (one that you like to drink), in this recipe. While the bread doesn’t taste overly beery when its cooked there will be undertones of the yeasty, hoppy, caramelly beer flavour.

I also like to add some flavourings such as cheese and herb to make it super tasty, but you can change these to suit your tastes. You can also substitute half of the plain flour for rye flour, soy and linseed breadmix flour, or wholemeal flour.

This will make a loaf suitable for 4 people (or 2 people if you are a greedy bread muncher like me). As with any home made breads, due to the lack of preserving agents it wont keep well so you will need to eat it on the day of baking

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of plain flour
1/2 Tablespoon of white sugar
1/2 – 1 Teaspoon Salt
2/3 tablespoon of Baking powder
1 teaspoon thyme (dried or fresh)
1/2 teaspoon oregano (dried or fresh)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
240ml Beer of your choice

Ingredients (clockwise); Grated Cheese, Plain Flour, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, James Boag Beer, Baking Powder, Thyme, Oregano, Basil, Garlic, Olive Oil.

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare a bread tin or baking tray lined with baking paper.

In a medium mixing bowl stir all dry ingredients together until well combined.

Pour in the beer and wet ingredients, mix with a spoon (it will foam up) while you are mixing.

It will come together to form a very sticky wet and stiff dough.

Turn the dough out onto your prepared baking tray and, using damp hands, shape it into the desired shape. ( I usually do a loaf shape or a round shape)

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until it is browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

It is a slightly heavier bread than usual but REALLY delicious.

Slice and serve warm with butter.

... or serve with your favourite (chicken) soup

VARIATIONS

You can really add any flavour combinations that you like, just make sure you get the quantities of the basic dough correct. You can also experiment with different beers too.