Hawaiian Beer Bread

April 7: National Beer Day

Although we are not big beer drinkers, we still enjoyed visiting the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Budweiser Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. Both tours featured historical displays, views of the huge kettles and tanks in the production rooms, high-speed packaging centers, free drink samples at the bars and gift shops with branded merchandise. We did not buy any beer cookbooks there but found many recipes online. In our adaptation of a quick bread recipe, we used Hawaiian beer. As an alternative to imbibing, bake beer bread for a buttery buzz on National Beer Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients

• 1 12-ounce beer at room temperature (we have used Kona Brewing Co.’s Fire Rock Pale Ale and Longboard Island Lager and Primo Island Lager before)
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ cup sugar (we used C&H brand, granulated white)
• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted

Directions

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together several times in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar. Add the beer and blend the batter well.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Pour the melted butter on the top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for an hour. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Take the bread out of the loaf pan and blot out the excess butter with paper towels. Put on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

• Use beer from different states or countries to bake a variety of unique-tasting quick breads.
• This aromatic bread has a buttery crust. Mix the melted butter in the dough instead of pouring it on the top before baking for a softer bread and crust.
• The date of National Beer Day has been debated but it is on April 7.