Bread without yeast / beer bread
The shelves with baking supplies in the supermarkets have been looking very sad and deserted lately. Everyone is baking at home and yeast and flour are often sold out for days. But… sometimes there is still a lonely packet of self-rising flour hidden in a corner. No good for home-made bread cravings you might think? Wrong! Add a bottle of beer and you can bake a delicious bread with self-raising flour! Just try out this easy bread without yeast / beer bread.
Nice’n easy
With this recipe for bread without yeast / beer bread you won’t need any proving time and you don’t have to knead at all. The process of making this beer bread is like baking a cake, but because of the salt and beer it has a nice bread taste and the crumb and crust are really that of bread. The day you bake the bread the crust is nice and crunchy. On day two it will be a bit softer and the bread will still be soft and deliciously fresh inside. Delicious with savory and sweet toppings!
Baking powder or baking soda
Do you only have ordinary flour at home? Then just use that and add some baking powder if you have it. This recipe is a variation of the Irish soda bread, so you could also use ordinary flour and baking soda for the recipe. Baking soda is three times as strong as baking powder, so do hold back. Baking soda needs acid to activate it. Beer is acid enough for this purpose, so this recipe works fine. The beer gives the bread a nice real “bread taste”.
What kind of beer?
I use regular lager for a “normal” bread taste. But you can use any beer you want. Think of strong dark beer for a nice, hearty bread, or Belgian ‘kriek’ cherrybeer for a more fruity and tangy taste. You can even use non-alcoholic beer!
________________________________________________________________________________________
Bread without yeast / beer bread
For 1 loaf
400 g / 3 cups self-raising flour *
1 tsp salt
1 bottle of lager (± 330 ml / 12 oz)
Also required: baking tin of ± 24 x 10 cm / 9 ½ x 4 inches, greased
Preheat the oven to 190 °C / 375°F .
Sift the flour in a large bowl, this will make the bread lighter. Stir in the salt. Mix in the beer and stir well. Spoon the dough into the tin and spread well. You can smooth the top with a damp hand for a more even result, but you can leave it like it is for a more rustic effect.
Bake the bread in the middle of the oven for ± 45-50 min. until done and brown. The bread should sound hollow if you knock on the bottom. If you want to approach it more scientifically, use a core thermometer and bake until the temperature in the middle of the bread is 95 °C / 203-204°F. Take out of the oven, take out of the tin and leave to cool completely on a rack.
* Or use 400 g flour and 3 tsp baking powder / 400 g flour and 1 tsp baking soda. You can also part wholemeal flour but the bread will rise a little less.
