Luck of the Irish indeed! Sauce Magazine tips the hat to all things beer this month, and March also celebrates all things Irish. This month rocks!
I wondered how to make a Just Five recipe with beer as one of key ingredients. After a little research on beer bread and soda bread, I threw both recipes together, picked out the parts I liked, and hoped for the blessing of St. Honoratus of Amiens (Google him).
A note on this recipe: If you do not sift the flour, you’ll have a dry biscuit, not bread. Sift, sift, sift! This simple quick bread has a crunchy crust from baking in butter and a lovely sweetness from the beer and brown sugar, proving once again that beer makes it better.
Guinness Beer Bread
6 servings
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
12 oz. Guinness or other dark beer
6 Tbsp. (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Break up the packed brown sugar with a fork, then add it and the rosemary and stir well to combine the dry ingredients. Add the beer and mix until a sticky dough forms.
• Spread the dough evenly into a cast-iron skillet or greased 9-by-9-inch baking dish and pour the melted butter over the dough. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.
• Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Bread will keep 4 to 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
Dee Ryan is a longtime contributor to Sauce Magazine and regularly pens Make This.
This article appears in Guide to Beer 2017.