Best Beer for Beer Bread + Easy 5-Ingredient Recipe - Plain Everything (2024)

FAQs

What kind of beer is best for beer bread? ›

Lighter beers, such as lagers, ales and pilsners, will give your bread a lighter color, and mild taste that just about everyone loves. Darker beers like stouts and porters make a darker-colored loaf and have a stronger beer flavor. Hoppy beers like IPAs will give your bread a more bitter taste.

Amber and brown ales tend to be less bitter than the alternatives and feature a nutty flavor. Because of this, these beers are often recommended for caramels, cookies, and pies. Light-colored beers have their place in baking, too. Lagers and Witbiers are used in lighter cakes and cookies.

Bread recipes call for yeast because carbon dioxide is the key ingredient needed to puff up the dough and make the bread fluffy. Since most beers still contain yeast cells at the end of the fermentation process, you can substitute a can of beer for yeast for a denser result.

I make it with lemon-lime soda (like Sprite or 7-Up). It has just a slightly smaller rise that is barely noticeable. Because of the additional sugar content, it browns just slightly more. Overall, soda is a great substitute for beer in this recipe.

I've made beer bread with everything from craft beers (Allagash White, Moosehead, etc.), to commercial beers like Heineken, Miller Highlife, and Samuel Adams Boston Lager (which we found lends more of a pronounced aroma than others on the list, and didn't make our favorite loaf).

Your beer isn't cold yet! Well, don't worry, because when making our beer bread, you can use warm OR cold beer! When pouring the beer into the bowl with the mix, we recommend pouring slowly, so it doesn't over-bubble. The same goes for any carbonated beverage you use to make our Beer Bread Mix; cold or hot will work!

We start most new homebrewers with an American Pale Ale because of its simple nature and great flavor. The style of American pale ale for the AHA is characterized by American-variety hops used to produce high hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. This bold hop flavor balances out with smooth low to medium maltiness.

Hefeweizen is a classic example of beer that is not especially high in alcohol, typically coming in between 4% and 6%, but it has perhaps the highest levels of yeast suspended in the beer. Hefes are known for their cloudy, hazy appearance and their nice thick head.

Baking with booze—such as bourbon, rum, port and vodka—can add additional flavor, texture and even change the consistency of many baked goods. Take pie dough for example, adding a splash of vodka produces a super flakey dough and develops less gluten in the dough than water.

The most common types of beers brewed are ales and lagers, so the most common yeast strains are Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (ale yeast) and Saccharomyces Pastorianus (lager yeast).

What type of yeast is used in beer and bread? ›

The strains of yeast used to make beer, bread, and wine come from the species of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. S. cerevisiae is known as “brewer's yeast” or “baker's yeast” for good reason: it's responsible for the fermentation that makes beer alcoholic and allows a lump of dough to rise into a loaf of bread.

Beer bread is a quick bread recipe that incorporates an entire bottle of beer. And if you're wondering why add the beer, remember this bread has no yeast. The beer acts in place of yeast as the leavening agent, along with the baking powder.

The yeast converts the sugars in bread to create C02 that makes the bread rise, but it also creates some alcohol, just like in beer and wine fermentation. That flavor just means that the yeast has been given sufficient time to work. The alcohol evaporates at the temperatures that bread bakes.

The average slice of white bread has approximately 70 calories while the average beer has approximately 150 calories. Dividing the two, that's a little over 2 slices per beer. Now, the light beers do lower your bread count to 1-1.5 slices of bread but that's not much of a difference.

Yeast – Yeast, oh magical yeast. Both beer and bread share a primary yeasting agent: Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yes, there are other yeasts that will, and do, ferment bread and beer, but S. cerevisiae is the king.

It's also the phrase you'll find gracing each box of Trader Joe's Beer Bread Mix. The flavor of the finished loaf really depends on what kind of beer you use: Go with a lager for a lighter profile, an IPA for a hearty, hoppy taste, or a stout for a rich result with a slightly darker finished product.

One of my favorite beers to use is Yuengling Lager. It's a medium-bodied lager with notes of caramel malt and a sweetness that makes it perfect for beer bread.

And while typical beer batters include dark heavy ales, I knew that the lightness of the Corona Extra beer would provide just the right amount of flavor without taking over the dish. And like all fish taco recipes, there needed to be a crunchy slaw on top to cut through the deep fried aspect of the dish.

The beer acts in place of yeast as the leavening agent, along with the baking powder. Keep in mind, the alcohol evaporates in the baking process, so it is safe for the kids to enjoy as well. Add in cheese if you like, it's not necessary, but it is delicious. Drizzling butter on top helps it have a nice crust.