Beer Bread

By Gerald Norman via http://www.food.com

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

I made this bread when I had leftover beer (Pale Ale) from making some Gorgonzola Ale Dip for a holiday event at Lost River Market & Deli.  Putting this bread together took no more than five minutes.  There’s no kneading or rising, so this is definitely a great bread for beginner, in-a-hurry bakers. The beer does the job of the yeast.  This bread makes a great snack slathered with butter and jelly and would also taste great with a steaming hot bowl of soup. The really important thing to remember when making this bread is to be sure the flour is well sifted before measuring.  Otherwise, you will end up with a brick-like doorstop. 

Ingredients

3 cups sifted flour (Be sure to sift the flour before measuring.  To measure, carefully spoon the sifted flour into a measuring cup and then level it off with a knife.  In other words, do not just scoop the measuring cup in the flour canister and level it off because that compacts the flour and will turn your bread into a hard brick-like biscuit.)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

1 (12 ounce) cans beer (I had about 10 oz. of beer, so I just added water to make up the amount.)

¼ cup melted unsalted butter

Directions

Grease a loaf pan.  (I used cooking spray.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Add the beer and stir.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over mixture.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Gorgonzola Ale Dip

Recipe from Tastebook.com and Husband-Tested in Debbie’s Kitchen


Our friends Debbie and Bob recently came back from a trip to Michigan where they enjoyed a fabulous appetizer dip at a restaurant there made with gorgonzola cheese, cherries, pecans and pale ale (type of beer.) I did a little online research for the recipe for Debbie and found one that had those same ingredients. I sent the recipe to Debbie and she gave it a try for a small dinner party she had for us on a lovely summer evening. We all agreed that this was definitely a keeper. The original recipe had a note about halving the ingredients to make a smaller version, but we all thought that this would be a big mistake! Make the recipe as is because it’s going to go fast at your next party and everyone will ask you for the recipe! You can get pale ale in the beer and wine section of Lost River Market & Deli. The pecans can be found in the bulk section. Debbie served this with Lavash. It can be found at the end of aisle one in the refrigerated section of the store. She baked the Lavash in the oven for a few minutes until crisp and broke them into serving size pieces for us. However, Lost River Market & Deli has a nice variety of crackers from which to choose.  If you have any beer left, try making Beer Bread.


¾ lb softened cream cheese
½ lb softened gorgonzola cheese
¼ cup Berghoff Pale Ale or other Pale Ale
½ cup pecan pieces
¼ cup fresh cherries, pitted and chopped or dried cherries, chopped


Bring cream cheese & gorgonzola to room temperature. Place in mixer & blend with paddle attachment until smooth. Add pale ale; blend until smooth. Add pecan pieces to cheese mixture. Finish mixture with rough chopped cherries. Bake in shallow dish at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, uncovered, until brown at edges.