My Baking Diary: Cheese & Herb Beer Battered Bread

The entire house smells oh-so-lovely again!! *joy* The smell of fresh bread with herbs & cheese makes the house smell like a pizza parlour! Woohoo!!

I was suddenly inspired to bake bread, but I didn't want to spend so much time making the dough. So I decided to search for recipes on quick & easy breads & this particular one made me wanna try the recipe out. I think it's the beer that fascinated me :D

The texture of the bread is not like those yeast-bread, where it's light & fluffy. Mine felt heavier & denser...but the taste is still pretty good :) I wish it's a fluffy bread though :( I think I over-mixed it? How come it's still densed...sobs sobs...compared to the photo on Handle the Heat's website, mine looks cakey...sigh...failed project? :S

Here's the recipe that I took from Handle the Heat's website. Hope yours will turn out well!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 cup) [Ruth: I just used Parmasen, so I've no idea how mine would taste like....]
3 tablespoons granulated sugar [Ruth: I only added approx 2 tbsp]
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt [Ruth: I didn't add salt since I used salted butter]
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/4 cups light-bodied beer [Ruth: As I still do not own a measuring cup, I poured about 300ml of Carlsberg (can't find any lighter-bodied beer...into the batter...I think I still had approximately 20ml left from the can...just 2 mouth-full]
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided

Directions:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.
2. Grease an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan. [Ruth: I don't know how large is mine but it looks like it fits JUST nicely :D]

3. In a large bowl combine the flour, cheese, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper. [Ruth: Because my butter isn't really well melted & cooled (I should have taken it out of the fridge much earlier....and oh, DO NOT melt over heat cos the oil will separate!!), I decided to do 'pastry-style' - rubbing in the not-so-melted butter into the flour with my hands]

4. Stir in the beer and 4 tablespoons of the butter. Be careful not to over-mix. [Ruth: I just mixed 'til there's no dry-flour & the wet batter is evenly "spread-out" so that there aren't any "puddles"]

5. Place the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface.

6. Brush lightly with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.[Ruth: As I don't own a brush as well, I used the back of a spoon to "brush" the butter & smoothen the top]

7. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the loaf pan halfway through baking. [Ruth: To get my bread golden brown, I had to bake the top for another 10-15 minutes, rotating the loaf halfway through the browning]

  

8. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool for 1 hour before serving.

Try it out as an adventure if you're new to baking! :)


I love bread,