Today we had a delivery from Fen Farm Dairy. Whilst we knew we had ordered a cheese box from them, we weren't expecting it today. As there wasn't time to make a standard bread loaf in time for lunch, I decided to make Beer Quick Bread instead. I started at 11.30 and it was ready by 1.

Quick Breads can be made very quickly indeed; you can make a loaf in about the time it would take to bake a cake. In fact they're similar to cakes. Instead of including yeast in the recipe which would need time to rise, quick breads use leaveners like baking soda or baking powder. So bubbles are created in the batter which makes the bread rise quickly as it bakes, rather than the dough having to be kneaded or be left to rise before it goes into the oven. 

Tips for making Quick Bread

There are a few things you can do to ensure your Quick Bread turns out well risen and lovely to eat, whichever recipe you use:

• Mix wet ingredients in one bowl with a whisk, dry ingredients in another. Then gently stir the wet into the dry ingredients, using a wooden spoon.
• Do not combine the wet and the dry ingredients until you are ready to bake your bread. Time is of the essence to ensure the best rise possible in the oven.
• Never over-mix the batter, otherwise your bread will turn out tough.
• Never use an electric mixer, bread machine or food processor. Mixing by hand makes the best quick bread.
• Always use standard flour, not bread flour. The extra gluten in bread flour will result in a tough loaf.
• If you add fruit and/or nuts to your quick bread, coat them with some of the flour to avoid them sinking straight to the bottom.
• As soon as your bread is cooked, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool. If you leave it in the tin for long, it will become soggy.

Beer Quick Bread

This recipe creates a delicious bread. Between the beer, the sugar and the butter on top, it won't win any awards for calorie counting. And you won't care.

In light of the above, try to resist eating it all in one sitting. And besides, it makes absolutely epic toast, so you need some left over to try that too.

I used a homemade Belgian-style Saison Beer in the bread I made today, because we had made some. But I wouldn't use anything special if you're buying the beer. 

Beer Quick Bread Recipe

Ingredients

You will need:

75g Self Raising Flour

35g Granulated Sugar

330ml Beer. We use homemade beer because we have it, any beer will work.

30g Butter

and 

a 2lb loaf tin.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F /190°C (180°C for a fan oven). 

2. Grease your loaf tin well.

3. Mix the flour and sugar together. 

4. Pour in the beer and quickly mix with the wooden spoon. Mix just enough to combine thoroughly. Do not overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and tap it on the counter top to level it. Put the loaf tin straight into the hot oven.

6. After 45-50 minutes when the bread looks done, quickly melt the butter. I do this for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Take the loaf tin out of the oven and carefully pour the melted butter evenly over the top. Put the loaf tin back in the oven and set the timer for another 10 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven, turn out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.

8. Once the bread is cool, cut into slices and enjoy with your lunch! In our case today it was Baron Bigod Cheese (yum), homemade green tomato chutney and grapes. Sensational.

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