Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread

If you ever happen to check a blogger’s Twitter feed, or Pinterest page, or the recent texts in their phones, you’ll quickly discover that we’re a pretty social bunch. And with good reason. Pretty much every food blogger I know does the majority of her/his work at home, sans coworkers, sans a “boss”, and sans typical workplace banter.

It’s an odd little solitary career which at times can be awesome! But it also means that bloggers get extra excited when they have the chance to chat with or be around blogging friends who fill that coworker void. And who can also relate and encourage and equip each other, and also not think we’re totally crazy. You know, friends who don’t blink an eye when you throw around acronyms like SEO, WP, DFP, or GIFs. Or who can talk strategy for Analytics or Alexa or Ahalogy for hours. Or who don’t bat an eye when everyone whips out a camera to take a photo of every single thing we eat.

Those crazy sort of people. ;)

My favorite thing, though, is when those initial business-y, bloggy relationships start to turn into actual factual friendships. Especially when they’re local and I get to bump into them more than once or twice a year. And especially when the bloggers is equally obsessed with her dog as I am. Enter, the namesake of Cookie and Kate.

Actually, the talented creator behind this popular blog actually goes by her full name, Kathryne. And Cookie is her adorable little pup who is actually about the same size as my Henry.

Anyway, Kathryne moved to KC a few years ago from Oklahoma, but it took months and months for our paths to finally cross at a few blogging events. Once they did, we quickly discovered that we were both (a) major dog lovers (b) moving into new homes within the same few months and (c) part of the 0.593% of food bloggers out there who are single right now.

So of course, it made perfect sense that we get together a few weeks ago to (finally) introduce our two pups, and take a tour of Kathryne’s new casa, and toast to the art of doing life well solo.

And of course, good food must be involved.

Kathryne made one of her famous salads. And I decided on a whim to turn some Cinco de Mayo cerveza into this garlic cheddar beer bread

For any of you who have not made beer bread before, let me assure you — it’s basically the easiest bread to make EVER.

There is no kneading involved, no rising, and basically no mistakes possible. Just stir a few simple ingredients together with a bottle of beer (which acts as the yeast), pop the batter into a bread pan, and bake it up to that delicious, warm and flavorful perfection.

I had picked up a 6-pack of ALDI’s cerveza to try out for Cinco De Mayo. So I paired a bottle with some extra sharp cheddar (I always recommend going sharper when baking!), and tossed it into my favorite recipe along with some garlic powder.

The result?

Well, I took a loaf over to share with Kathryne and she gave it the thumbs up. So it gets the double-food-blogger seal of approval.

Definitely a quick and easy and delicious side to go with any of those grilled entrees and salads and fruit this summer.

Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread

4 from 1 vote

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Makes: 8 to 12 servings

Author: Ali

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Ingredients

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• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons honey, slightly warmed
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

• ▢
  Prep oven and pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a bread pan.
• ▢
  Mix the dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and garlic powder. Gently stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just combined, then stir in the shredded cheddar until just combined. (Be careful not to over mix the dough.) Transfer the dough to the pan and spread it out evenly with a spoon.
• ▢
  Bake. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the pan and brush the melted butter on top of the bread. Return to the oven and bake for 10-15 more minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for at least 5 minutes.
• ▢
  Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!

Additional Info

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!