Loaded Beer Bread

My husband has been begging me to get into the kitchen and make him some beer bread since he’s been back from Iraq. Every time I’ve been busy with my cupcakes and haven’t let him have an hour in the oven. I know, I know… I’m such a mean wife. haha But in all seriousness, Food is really important to him and he loves to cook. So, finally, I gave in and we made beer bread together. And it was delicious!

Anyways, yesterday I was reading my RSS feed of a bazillion blogs and read a post about beer bread.  It got me inspired.  So I called the hubster and asked him to bring home beer.   Of course, without hesitation he says yes!  I mean really, what husband would turn down beer?

So Dave brings me a growler of some local beer brewed in Seattle… aka the big bottle he wanted to get at the store the last time we were there but I told him no.  Little did he know that all that beer would be going into the bread, not his glass.

Now, I call this bread “Loaded” not because you’re gonna get loaded, although I kinda wish that were the case, but because I took a very simple recipe and LOADED it with good ingredients and flavor!  Herbs, garlic, cheese…. OH MY!

The recipe really takes only 5 minutes to pull together and many of the ingredients could be substituted for things you already have in your own kitchen… cause really, that’s what I did.

Run to your kitchen, pull out a beer for yourself and a beer for the bread, and whip yourself up a loaf to go with your dinner… or seriously… to just eat cause it’s THAT good.

JavaCupcake’s LOADED Beer Bread
Makes 1 loaf

3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
4.5 teaspoons baking powder
2.5 teaspoons salt
2 heaping teaspoons garlic powder
1 heaping teaspoon onion powder
2 heaping teaspoons oreagno
1 heaping teaspoon parsley
1 heaping teaspoon basil

1 1/2 – 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

12-14 oz beer (any kind really… use what you like)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter and flour your loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl (you don’t need a mixer for this one), mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and herbs with a whisk.
3. Add the cheese and whisk until incorporated.
4. Pour 12 oz of beer into the flour mixture and with a spatula or wooden spoon mix it until all the ingredients are wet and incorporated.  If the dough seems too dry still and all the flour isn’t being incorporated, add a bit more beer.  Not too much though!
5. Pour batter (it will be sticky) into the loaf pan.
6. Bake for 50-55 minutes, rotating pan after 30 minutes.
7. About 2 minutes before it’s done, pour the melted butter over the top of the bread and put back in the oven for the last 2 minutes.
8. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing the bread to a wire wrack to cool completely.
9. Cut into slices and serve warm with a little butter.