Stanley Gaming Guild

It’s too hot for food.

Ok, that’s preposterous. The heat is getting to me.

Iced coffee. Cold overnight oats. Carrots and hummus. Pita and mashed avocado. Smoothies. 75% of the foods I’m eating these days are either cold or raw because of the weather in an attempt to cool down.

Thus, I haven’t turned on the oven in weeks. But, today is the perfect grilling kind of day – 85°F and sunny – and we’re headed to my cousin and her husband’s (T&A…Trevin & Al!) house for some sweet potluck BBQ fun. To me, that calls for a beer.

Except, I’m throwing it into the oven. That’s right – beer bread.

This is a “quick bread” recipe, seeing as the yeast from the beer allows for it to rise without having to let the dough sit out before baking it.

I used Guinness Extra Stout to get full flavour (however, any beer works). Go big or go home, right? I mean, I turned on the oven for this.

Guinness Beer Bread
Adapted from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
3 tbsp brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 12 oz bottle of Guinness Extra Stout
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly coat a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt, then add brown sugar and mix together. Pour in beer and mix quickly until fully combined (should be a very sticky dough). Transfer batter into loaf pan, and drizzle melted butter on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then place loaf onto a cooling rack.

Note: I used a disposable 8×4 loaf pan and it took about 45-50 minutes to bake.

This bread is dense – biscuit-like and would go great with butter or jam. A slight bitter aftertaste, just like after taking a sip from the bottle. Nothing goes together better than beer and butter, said America.