Rustic Beer Bread Recipe

This rustic beer bread recipe is easy, quick and very versatile! Eat it with a hearty soup or pair it with charcuterie to make a country-style lunch. Even better, this beer bread recipe is super yummy when toasted and smothered in thick lashings of butter.

You don’t need any baking skills to enjoy a fresh loaf of this rustic beer bread hot from the oven! This is one of the quickest, easiest, and tastiest loaves you will ever prepare.

Do You Really Use Beer?

Yes! You really do. The taste of the final product is largely determined by the variety of beer you choose. A more bitter beer will give a savoury flavour to your rustic beer bread. Stout will give a fuller, more robust bread. Personally, I like to use a sweeter beer in my version of the recipe but experiment with all kinds of beer and see which one you like best. For this version of my rustic beer bread, I used a light beer but that’s only because it was left at our house by a guest and Mr GGF is not a fan of this particular beer. It would have stayed in the fridge for months if I hadn’t used it.

Is the beer bread alcoholic?

According to my research, the majority of the alcohol evaporates during the baking process and a small residual amount is left behind. You would have to eat an awful lot of the bread to get drunk! It’s also interesting to note that I am NOT a fan of beer. In fact, beer would be at the bottom of the list of alcoholic drinks I’d choose. This bread, however, does not taste like beer. It has an earthy flavour and one you can play around with by adding different ingredients.

How to make Rustic Beer Bread

Keep in mind this is the basic recipe for a plain loaf.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Self Raising flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 can of beer

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
• Grease a loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour and sugar.
• Add the beer and mix only until everything is combined (avoid over mixing).
• Bake for 45-55 minutes. About 40 minutes in, check your loaf.
• Let the bread cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the loaf pan.

Some people suggest adding a brush of melted butter to the warm loaf to give it a sheen but I’ve left mine exactly as it came out of the oven.

Variations on the Rustic Beer Bread Recipe

• add bacon and grated cheese
• try adding cinnamon and some dates
• add paprika, olives and sundried tomatoes for an Italian feel

Discover another of my favourite rustic recipes in this Farmhouse Baked Beans post

I’m a huge fan of quick and easy meals. See other easy recipe ideas I love on my Rustic Country Recipes Pinterest Board