Beer Bread.

Mmmmm....beer bread.

My mom used to keep cans of beer under the kitchen sink to make beer bread when I was a little girl. I remember feeling a wee bit naughty for eating it since it was made with an adult beverage.

A friend recently brought over a loaf from a mix she had. It reminded me of how good it was.

So I decided it was time to bring it back again.

When I looked up the recipe I couldn't believe how simple it was to make.

Easier than whipping up a batch of biscuits.

Why have I not been making it all these years?

I have a fridge of leftover beer from Micah's R&R just begging to be used.

And my trusty little kitchen destroyer assistant.

And plenty of hours between wake-up and bed-time to be filled.

So I opened the test kitchen, and we made three different batches until I found the winner.

This may be the quickest of quick breads.

So easy a three year old can make it.

No really, she really did make it.

She measured all the ingredients herself.

I just had to open the beer for her and keep her from chugging it.

If you use a little assistant, just be prepared for this.....

And this.....

And a little dusting on the nose too.....

But it's okay because she said it was the best day ever and even though she says that almost every day, I think she means it every time.

The original recipe is as follows:

3 cups of self rising flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 can or bottle of beer
2 Tablespoons of melted butter (to brush on top of the loaf)

Bake in a loaf pan at 375 for 40 minutes. A few minutes before it's done, brush the butter on top and return to the oven.

Seriously, that's IT.

Except that I don't have self-rising flour. So I had to adapt it to this:

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 can or bottle of beer, plus 1 ounce of liquid
2 Tablespoons of melted butter, brushed on top a few minutes before baking is done.
Bake in a loaf pan at 375 for 40 minutes.

Adding 6 extra teaspoons of dry ingredients made the dough too dry, so you have to add a little extra liquid. You can either open a second bottle of beer, use a little and pass it off to an eager beer drinker, or you can just use water. I tried both and they worked equally well. You want the dough to be really wet and sticky.

Also, I didn't think the dark beer was a good choice for this when I tried it. Some of the recipes advise against a light beer. So something middle of the road.

(And for all my Southern Baptist peeps out there--go ahead and sneak that beer in the bottom of your cart and hope you don't run into anyone. It'll be worth it!)