People love bread and people love beer too. But, these two favorite carbs have one crucial similarity. They are both made with yeast.
5000 years ago, ancient Egyptians used yeast for baking bread. They thought of it as a miracle, and it was, but not a supernatural one.
Yeasts are friendly microbes that can ferment food items, often improving the text and textures. It has a flavor that is addictive and nobody can resist any food item made from yeast, be it wine, bread, or cheese.
Beer bread has been around for years and is a great alternative for regular dinner rolls or buns. It makes a perfect accompaniment for soups, stews, barbecued meat, etc. Here are a few essential tips for making beer bread to pair with your main dish.
What Type To Use
Contents
You can use pretty much any beer to make bread. With light beers, you get lighter, fluffier bread. With dark beers, the bread turns denser, has a darker color, and has a more intense flavor.
The most important factor to remember is the use of hops in your beer. Adding Hops makes your beer bitter. If you use a hop-heavy beer, your bread will be so bitter that it will be ruined.
Use beer that goes well on the hop content. Brown ale is a sweet beer, with a low hob content, so it makes delicious beer bread. Light beers like lagers work well too. Porter, which is heavy on malted barley, is dark yet sweet and hence, it also works well.
All About The Rise
To make bread, you have to use some sort of raising agent, which is yeast in most cases. But for any quick baking bread, baking powder is a better rising agent. The quickest bread has a runny batter instead of solid dough and adding yeast will make the bread hard.
Beer is also made by adding yeast that acts as a raising agent. This is why it is crucial to know how much extra rising agent you will need to get the perfect rise for your bread.
You can also use self-rising flour for your beer bread, which will eliminate the requirement of any other raising agent. If you are looking for the best recipe for making moist and fluffy beer bread, visit here.
How Much Beer Should You Add?
Other quick bread like banana bread and cornbread uses some extra ingredients that add moisture and make the batter runny like banana and egg. Since beer is very watery, adding too much beer can make it extremely runny.
If you add a lot of beer, you also run the risk of adding too much raising agent, because of its yeast content. This can make your bread collapse from the center. Both its shape and taste will be ruined. So, it is crucial to know how much beer to add in ratio with the flour.
The ratio of beer to flour is 1 bottle of beer:3 cups of flour, so around 12oz (355ml) of beer to 375 grams of self-raising flour. You can add 1 extra tablespoon of beer, if you feel your batter is too dry, or try adding more fat. Try using home-brewed beer to make your bread.
Add More Fat
When we make bread, we often use milk, yogurt, or buttermilk to make the bread moist. These wet ingredients have a fat content that contributes to the bread’s tastes and texture.
Every bread needs a certain amount of shortening as the fat coats the gluten and gives it a softer, more tender texture. However, the wet ingredient we use in beer bread is beer, which does not have added fat.
If you don’t add extra fat to the batter your bread will turn out coarse and difficult to swallow. Add more butter and olive oil to make your bread extra moist.
You can also try reducing the amount of beer and increasing the amount of fat you use, to avoid dealing with a batter that is too runny.
Add Some Fillings
There are many ways you can enjoy your beer bread. The texture and taste of beer bread make it a great accompaniment for different dishes. It is also great for making different gourmet sandwiches. Did you know that you can also add filling to your beer bread?
It might seem impossible to add your filling without having it all sink to the bottom of the tin as your beer bread batter is runnier. But, it is entirely possible and there are mainly two ways to do this.
- Divide your batter into two equal parts. Keep your filling ready. If it has vegetables or fruits, you can fry or caramelize it until the water evaporates. Place half your batter in the tin and put it in the oven until it rises and becomes more solid. Bring it out, add the filling and rest of the batter. Bake until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Make your dough like a usual bread using yeast, but only use half of the water for the baking. Divide your liquids into half part water and half part beer. You will end up with a bread dough that can be manipulated into shapes so that you can add your fillings without hassle, as shown in this recipe.
Final Thoughts
Beer bread is a great option for carbs to add to your diet. It can accompany different dishes from meat to any sweet treats. You can also add various fillings and make your bread more wholesome.
Try making it at home using these tips, and you will end up with the softest beer bread you ever had.
