Beer Bread
I had every intention of making my first yeast (and also my first breadmaker) bread this week or weekend, but I forgot to buy one major component: yeast. I was browsing my friend Joelen's blog and noticed she had recently made a beer bread. I have been wanting to try a beer bread for quite some time, and figured this was a good of time as any.
I knew I wanted to use sundried tomatoes because I have always loved the sundried tomato bread they had at Panera. I love the combinations of both garlic and rosemary with tomatoes, so I decided to add those, too. I would have used fresh rosemary, but, well, I killed my rosemary plant a while back.
This was such an easy way to make bread. It comes out denser and doesn't rise as high but it's really tasty, in my opinion. Next time, I would have added 2 heads of garlic instead of just one.
Roasted garlic is one of the best.things.ever. It just enhances the flavor of so many things and it's incredibly easy to "make." First, remove as much paper from an entire head of garlic as you can, but not removing the paper surrounding the individual cloves. Next, cut about 1/4 - 1/2" or so off the top of a head of garlic, exposing all the cloves. Put the head on a square of tin foil and drizzle it with a tsp or two of olive oil. Wrap the foil around the bulb, enclosing it complete. Put it on a pan and bake it in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Then you get this:
Pluck the cloves out with your fingers or a small fork. They come out really easily. Mash with a fork.
Sundried Tomato, Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Beer Bread
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 head of garlic, roasted and cloves mashed with a fork
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes--reserving 1-2 Tbsp. of the oil from the jar
1.5 Tbsp. rosemary
1 can or or bottle of beer
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix whole wheat flour, AP flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, garlic, rosemary, and sundried tomatoes (not the oil) together in a large bowl.
Add beer all at once and stir until JUST combined. Don't overmix.
Put mixture into a greased loaf pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Brush sundried tomato oil over the top of the loaf and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until bread is done and toothpick comes out clean.
Comments
Mmmm...I can almost smell that bread wafting right off the computer screen! I'm adding this recipe to my "to try" list.
I recently bought a bread machine and I love it; it's so darn easy to use that I make all our bread now. I'd love to be one of those people that kneads by hand and lets it rise, etc., but I can only do that for special occasions because it's so time consuming. The bread machine is perfect for me, with no sacrifice in flavor.
Here's a link to my favorite recipe, Jo's Rosemary Bread, which makes the house smell like a bakery and also makes you eat the entire loaf in just about one sitting:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jos-Rosemary-Bread/Detail.aspx