Beer Bread: A Use For Schlitz?

[vakkotaur]

When I first saw this recipe a few years ago I tried it. Just once, I think. I'm not sure why I didn't make it again. I suspect it was that it didn't come out of the pan very well, I didn't need to have such a bread around, and that it used up good beer and I tended not to have not so good beer around. Sometime before Christmas I tried it again, using Budweiser's American Ale which while cheap, is reasonably good stuff. Good enough to drink (It tastes like a beer. Really.) but not so good in the bread. What gives the beer a good character gives the bread a not so good one. And it still stuck to the pan. And we (Jay and I) still ate it way too fast.

Schlitz, a truly cheap beer - or "beer" - recently reverted to the 1960s recipe in an attempt to put the 'L' back in the name. Not long ago I picked up some (and made sure it was 1960s recipe version) to give it a(nother) try. It's better than it was, but that's not saying much. It's still not what I would choose to drink, but it's certainly not the worst I've had. I recall that Julia Child said that if you wouldn't drink a wine, you shouldn't cook with it either. It didn't need to be great, it just had to not be bad - and you would not drink what is sold as "cooking wine." So I tried again. You can decide for yourself if I heeded or ignored Julia Child's advice in regard to the namesake ingredient here. I also made a couple changes to the original recipe:

Recipe source

3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder*
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1 bottle or can of beer (approx 12 oz/350 ml)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients in loaf pan.
Pour beer over. Wait for foam to subside, and stir together.
Bake for approx 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Watch entire loaf disappear.

* I have no idea why this isn't just "1 Tbsp baking powder"

The third time I made this, on Saturday, I mixed it in a bowl and greased (okkay, sprayed) the bread pan. I used a bottle of Schlitz. And once the dough was in the pan, I poured about a quarter cup of melted butter over the dough, so the crust wouldn't be very hard. I think the baking temperature is a bit low (or else the thermometer on our oven is off) but I've seen 375 F on some beer bread recipes, so I'll likely go a bit higher next time I do this.

The result? The baked loaf slid right out of the pan. And it tasted good. Good enough that despite taking it to the airport to give away, I probably still ate too much of it.

[ADDENDUM: 375 F for 45 minutes makes a better loaf. Less crumbly and no/less odd taste from the beer used.]