No bakers yeast? No problem! This super quick, ridiculously easy beer bread recipe is perfect for the days you run out of bread at the house and are too lazy to go to the store to get more!

Bread in an Hour…This is the Biggest Reason I Make Beer Bread

Short on time and need some bread? Beer bread is your answer! This loaf took me a whopping 8 minutes or so to put together. Seriously—measure out your ingredients, give them a stir, and pop it in the oven. Now that I think about it, there’s no simpler bread that I’ve ever made. I’ll be honest, Andrew does most of the bread making in our house because I am just too impatient for the amount of time it takes to plan and execute. So this beer bread is how I can contribute….when we need bread in a pinch. This recipe in particular is fantastic as a sliced bread you’d usually use sandwiches or dinner accompaniments. Bonus…this bread doesn’t have all the additives and preservatives that so many other commercial breads come with, making it a healthier option for your tummy!

Beer Bread Doesn’t Require Any Baker’s Yeast

At the time of writing this, we’re still in quarantine during the global pandemic of COVID-19. Not only is good quality bread hard to come by, but baker’s yeast is also off the shelves. So…if you’re out of bread and you don’t have access to bread yeast, beer bread is a perfect answer. Why does beer work in place of yeast? Because beer has yeast in it! Yeast is the reason that all alcoholic beverages exist (yeast eats sugar and creates alcohol and CO2). In bread baking, yeast eats the sugars and creates CO2, helping the bread to rise. Luckily, beer is carbonated which makes the bread rise!

Does Beer Bread Taste Like Beer?

Depending on the type of beer you use to make beer bread, yes…there will be some beer taste in the bread (and trust me, its delicious). But don’t worry—the alcohol cooks away in cooking, so this bread is not alcoholic and will not make you tipsy. If you don’t want the bread to taste much like beer, I suggest using beers with minimal flavor, like a Light or Standard American Lager (think Bud, Miller, Coors, etc.). For this loaf, I used PBR.

Beers to Use in the Recipe

Any beer can be used to make this beer bread recipe! Different beers will give different flavors, so keep that in mind and use a beer that you already know and love

Standard American Lagers like Miller, PBR, and Coors will provide a very light beer note to the bread. Use these if you don’t want much flavor imparted from the beer.

Wheat Beer like hefewiezen will give your bread a bright and light bready note. Wheat beers are particularly yeasty, so they are a great option

Amber Ales and Lagers like Marzen will provide a nice toasty note to your bread. If you’re making this recipe in the fall and Oktoberfest is on the shelves, you have a winner!

Dark Ales like Porter and Stout will add a deep and roasty note to your bread. They will create a whole different kind of bread but a delicious one at that!

Hoppy beers like Pale and IPA will give your bread some bitterness. Feel free to try them out if you like this style of beer, but I recommend adding up to 4 Tbsp of sugar in the recipe to balance the hops out a bit.

If you want a very “bready” beer influence, I suggest using a Munich Helles Lager like Weihenstephaner Premium or Spaten. Yummmmmmmy!

The Recipe

How to Make Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 Cups Flour
1 to 4 Tbsp Sugar
4 Tbsp melted Butter, divided
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
12 oz Beer of Your Choice (see above for my recommendations)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 9x5” loaf pan
Mix 3 Tbsp of the butter with the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the beer and mix slowly to combine (the dough will become very thick very quickly…thanks yeast!)
Spoon the batter in to the pan, smoothing the top. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp melted butter.,
Bake the bread for 45 to 50 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!