(Bacon) Beer Bread

My friend Mazzie tipped me onto this crazy stuff. Beer bread is a quickbread, but some reaction between the beer and the flour gives the bread a texture that’s surprisingly similar to yeasted bread (which, of course, takes significantly longer to make). It has a slight sweetness to it, making it somewhat perplexing: is it savory, or is it for dessert? Well, honestly, you could have it either way. It would be great with a hearty stew. You can also put whatever you want in it. I chose to put bacon in it, but chunks of cheese would be a good choice too. Or, if you leave the bacon out, the bread becomes vegan. It takes about 5 minutes to stir together and an hour to cook. Easy peasy.

(Bacon) Beer Bread

Adapted from this recipe

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all purpose flour, sifted*
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 12-ounce can of beer
4 slices bacon (omit for vegan)
1/4 cup bacon grease, or butter, or margarine

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a loaf pan.
2. Cut bacon into bits and cook in a frying pan. Place on paper towel to drain.
3. Mix dry ingredients with beer.
4. Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Pour bacon grease, butter, or margarine over the top of the batter.
5. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from pan and let cool at least 15 minutes before serving

* According to the recipe I used, sifting is not optional. If you don’t want to sift, you can spoon the flour into the measuring cup. The goal is to avoid scooping it out of the container and leveling it off, which compacts the flour. If you do that, you’ll add too much flour and the bread will turn out brick-like. I used the spooning method and it worked fine.

Popovers

Martha Stewart has treated me well this month. This recipe is easy as pie to make and quite tasty. Also very simple to make dairy-free.

Incidentally, everyone was right: a Dutch Baby is nothing more than an overgrown popover.

Popovers

From Martha Stewart Living, January 2010

Yield: 12 small popovers made in a regular muffin tin, or 6 popovers made in a popover tin.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups whole milk or soy milk
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, lightly whisked
butter or margarine

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425°F
2. Whisk eggs. Whisk together milk, flour and salt. Batter will be lumpy. Whisk in eggs.
3. Heat muffin tin or popover tin in oven for a few minutes. Brush butter or margarine in each cup generously.
4. Fill each cup a little over halfway with batter. Bake 20 minutes.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden brown, about 25 more minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve warm.
6. If not serving immediately, poke a small hole in each popover to let steam escape. Reheat when you want to serve them.