I've been mentally writing this post for over a month. It started with "Today was (is) my mom's birthday." and went off from there. Yet, it never made it to the digital paper that is this blog. Now it's two days after Thanksgiving. (Yes, Mom, I made the cranberry relish and the pecan pie.) It was common for us to celebrate birthdays weeks after the actual dates, so by that standard I'm actually only a little late.
Oct 25 was my mom's birthday. I came home from work with a bread craving. Well, I was really craving something to spread my grapefruit marmalade on. The fastest bread I could think of was beer bread, and since it was my mom's birthday, making her beer bread seemed an appropriate way to remember her. I must own about a half dozen copies of her beer bread recipe, either hand-written or typed up on index cards. I'm always stumbling across copies in various parts of my recipe collection, but of course that night it took me a good 15 minutes to find one: a hand-written copy written in almost an upside down fashion with the title at the bottom.
Making beer bread is as easy as making muffins. Actually, it's easier, since there's only one pan to fill instead of a dozen muffins! My mom always swore by a cheap can of beer, like Budweiser or Miller. I didn't have any, so I used what I thought might be the mildest ale we had in the house. A strong beer will definitely be noticed.
Beer bread doesn't really go with grapefruit marmalade, but it's wonderful with butter and honey, especially when still warm.
Mary Jo's Beer Bread
3 C self rising flour (=3 C flour + 1.5 tsp salt + 4.5 tsp baking powder)
4 Tbs sugar
1 12oz can (or bottle) of beer
1 egg
Heat over to 350 F. Grease a 9x5 bread pan. Sift or mix the self-rising flour and sugar. Whisk egg with a fork. Mix flour, egg, and beer. The batter is gooey, and it's easiest to mix with a wooden spoon or large whisk. Put into bread pan. Bake for approximately 50 minutes - until a toothpick comes out clean (crumbs excluded) in the center. Let cool a bit and un-mold.
Best enjoyed while still warm, but will last a few days and microwaves fine.
Recent Comments