Rosemary

Ok, I love all things bread, but I’m a fatty, so that’s to be expected. My mother recently taught me a rustic beer bread she’s been making for my step father. The recipe was stupid easy and tasts great. This recipe is also very forgiving and requires no kneading. I made some tweaks to the recipe to include beer, specifically homebrew!

This recipe only calls for four ingredients:

• 6.5 cups bread flour
• 1.5 tbsp. instant yeast
• 1 tbsp. kosher salt
• 3 cups pale ale

Whisk together the flour, yeast, and kosher salt in the largest mixing bowl you have. Then add the beer. Using a spatula, pull the bread dough together and be sure the liquid is mixed throughout. If the bread dough looks too dry, add a splash of water or more beer. You want a moist, pliable dough. It’s ok if your dough looks too wet. Again, this dough is super forgiving, you just don’t want it too dry.

Spray another bowl large enough to hold 2-3 times the volume of your dough with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp towel and place in warm place (I use my oven with the light on) and let the dough rise for 4-5 hours. The dough should at least double in size, how long it will take to rise will vary.

After your dough has doubled in size, carefully transfer the dough to a 9 or 12 inch cast iron skillet. I used a 12 inch skillet for this post. Using 9 inch skillet will give you a thicker loaf. If your skillet is well seasoned, you shouldn’t need to spray it down with anything. If your skillet isn’t well seasoned, go a head and spray it down with some cooking spray. Let the bread rise another 2-3 hours. Another note, if you want to use loaf pans instead in place of a cast iron skillet, go a head. Just cut the loaf in half and place the two pieces into two different loaf pans.

Preheat your oven to 425° F. Place your cast iron skillet in the oven and bake your bread for 45-60 minutes. Pierce the bread with a skewer after 45 minutes and remove. If the there is nothing sticking to the skewer, your bread is done. Continue checking the bread every 5-10 minutes until the skewer can be removed cleanly. If you have an instant read thermometer, like a themapen, you can check the bread’s doneness by checking it’s temperature. Cook the bread until the interior temp reaches 210° F.

Once your bread is done, remove from the oven and carefully remove from the cast iron skillet. Place on a cooling rack until the bread is cool enough to handle. Cut the bread up however you’d like and enjoy.

In this recipe, I used pale ale, but you can really use any beer you like. Lighter beers work well and so do hoppy beers. Just about any beer will work. However, I have found that stout and porters do work, but I find that the darker malt flavors clash with the bread and make it almost bitter. Herbs work very well in this bread as well. Rosemary in this bread is fricken awesome. Just chop it finely and add it to your dry ingredients before you add your liquids. It’s that easy.