BEER BREAD

One of the things that's taking me a bit longer than hoped to get used to about living in Norway again, is that everything is closed on Sundays. I like this in principle. I like that it's a day for spending time with family, relaxing or doing some sort of activity. But it also demands a certain level of planning. Seeing as you can't really go out and buy things on a Sunday, you have to plan your Sunday dinner in advance. In fact, you have to plan all your meals for Sunday in advance, plus your Monday breakfast and potentially even lunch. I struggle with this. And this Sunday, I managed to run out of bread. Enter beer bread, potentially also known as the quickest, easiest recipe for bread, ever.

This potentially one of my favourite recipes. I discovered beer bread about two years ago, and tried it out pretty much straight away. I was so happy with the result and how easy it was that I told everyone and their dog that they should be making beer bread. Incidentally, a few months after I started making beer bread, Glasgow was hit by an ice apocalypse. It wasn't really an ice apocalypse, but it felt like it. Graeme and I were just back from a weekend trip to Paris and came back to a deserted Glasgow city centre covered in a layer of ice. No deliveries were being made, so the restaurants ran out of food to serve. Petrol stations ran out of fuel. Our local supermarket ran out of coke and more importantly, bread. I once again told everyone and their dog that they should try making their own beer bread.

What so great about this recipe, is that less than an hour to make. It has a total of five ingredients, all of which you probably already have in your cupboard. There is no messing about with rising the dough, proving or any of that stuff, even though it's still technically a yeast dough. You mix the ingredients together and throw it in the oven. Forty minutes later, and you have freshly baked bread and your house smells amazing. Seriously, this loaf barely even needs directions.

Beer bread recipe:
375 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
330 ml of beer or (alcoholic) cider
(and butter for greasing the loaf tin)

Directions: Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Mix the dry stuff together in a bowl. Add the beer, and mix that in too. Transfer the dough into a pre-greased bread pan, and pop it in the oven. Leave it there for 40 minutes, and then let the bread cool a little. Best served still warm, with a bit of butter. Enjoy!