For a quick and easy bread recipe when you have no yeast or bread flour, try this easy beer bread with delicious results!
Yeast from beer
Beer is made from water, malt, hops and different types of yeast.
So if you are out of yeast to make bread, you can use beer with flour instead, the yeast in the beer will make your bread rise, by interacting with sugar.
The beer takes the place of the usual water in bread recipes.
It doesn’t need to be bread flour you use either, so if you have a spare bottle of beer (or if you need to borrow one and your beer drinking family member won’t notice) and some normal flour (self-raising or plain) then you can make this quick and easy loaf at home.
If you use a vegan beer then your beer loaf will also be vegan so this is also an option for a vegan bread recipe. Just check the recipe used for your beer, as some beers include honey or lactose or other additives making them unsuitable for vegans.
Residual beer
Most of the alcohol in the beer will evaporate during baking, so you don’t need to worry too much about the alcohol content and feeding your family, especially if you are only having one or two small slices each.
If you are worried then you can always keep this bread for the adults.
If you use a lighter type of beer like I do then you can’t really taste the beer.
This makes it good for those who are not really beer fans, whereas die-hard beer fanatics might prefer the flavour from one of their preferred darker brews.
How to serve beer bread
Your loaf will be a rustic style loaf with a crisp crust and a soft centre.
It works well on the side of soups or stews, buttered or plain, and is lovely made into doorstop sandwiches with your chosen fillings or with melted cheese as grilled cheese sandwiches.
It is best used within a couple of days of baking.
Ingredients
You only need three basic ingredients to make this beer bread, so it is great if you are running low on supplies.
You will need:
- beer – clearly this is vital. Any kind can be used, I used a light lager type beer as you can see. If you are a craft beer fan or like stout and dark ales like that, you can also use that, and will get added flavour in this case. One bottle (330 ml) is required. Alcohol-free beer works too!
- self-raising flour – you’ll need some kind of flour to make most breads. If you have no self-raising you could use plain with 2 teaspoons of baking powder instead.
- sugar – to balance the flavour of the beer, you use four tablespoons of caster sugar. I find this just the right amount for my family to make it palatable to all of us
- Optional – if you like you can add in some optional flavourings like some grated mature cheddar cheese, garlic powder, dried herbs. Use what you have. A tablespoon of Marmite will also add a nice savoury flavour.
Step by step instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Gather together your bottle of beer, 350 g self-raising flour and 4 tbsp caster sugar.
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar. Pour in the beer. It will fizz up!
- Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed, it will bubble as you do this. It will be a runny sticky mixture.
- If adding any extras like herbs, spices, cheese etc, stir them in now,
- Lightly oil a large loaf tin (2 lb / 1 kg).
- Pour the bread batter into the oiled tin. Sprinkle over a little cayenne pepper to add colour (optional).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. It may rise into odd shapes from the action of the beer, you can see my loaf pictured has a large bubble on top on one side!
- To check the bread is cooked through you can test with a cake tester/skewer (make sure it comes out clean and dry) or use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature has reached around 90 degrees Celsius.
- Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for 5 minutes approx to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack. Slice when cooled completely.
If you like this…
You might also like these other easy bread recipes:
Recipe
Beer Bread
Ingredients
- 350 g self-raising flour
- 330 ml lager or beer
- 4 tbsp caster sugar (superfine sugar)
Equipment
Video
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Gather together your bottle of beer, 350 g self-raising flour and 4 tbsp caster sugar.350 g self-raising flour, 330 ml lager or beer, 4 tbsp caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar. Pour in the beer. It will fizz up!
- Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed, it will bubble as you do this. It will be a runny sticky mixture.
- If adding any extras like herbs, spices, cheese etc, stir them in now.
- Lightly oil a large loaf tin (2 lb / 1 kg).
- Pour the bread batter into the oiled tin. Sprinkle over a little cayenne pepper to add colour (optional).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. It may rise into odd shapes from the action of the beer.
- To check the bread is cooked through you can test with a cake tester/skewer (make sure it comes out clean and dry) or use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature has reached around 90 degrees Celsius.
- Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for 5 minutes approx to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack. Slice when cooled completely.
TWalsh says
Texture of bread lovely and super quick and easy to make, however it is far too sweet. Try Jamie Oliver’s version where he just uses 1 tablespoon of sugar.
bakingqueen74 says
Glad you found the texture good and the method simple. Sure, reduce the sugar if you prefer!
Ioanna says
Hi, would this recipe work with granulated sugar ? And perhaps with less quantity? Maybe 1-2 spoons
bakingqueen74 says
Hi there, yes it would work with granulated sugar instead of caster. You can certainly twist the amount of sugar to suit your taste, just remember it will depend on the type of beer you use too, as some can be more bitter than others, and it is good to balance the flavours.
Christine says
The beer bread is a fantastic recipe. Made it this morning with the addition of mixed herbs. Would definitely recommend it.
bakingqueen74 says
Brilliant thanks for coming over Christine, your loaf looked delicious.