Oatmeal Beer Bread

Well, we will see how it turns out. Mixed up an oatmeal beer bread and stuck it in the oven about ten minutes ago, in about 45 minutes I will hopefully have some tasty brew bread. For whatever reason I am overly excited about this bread... guess it goes to show my baking talents (read virtually none here). Anyway, it better be good as I used some of my favorite beer on it as Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout just seemed perfect for this recipe (especially since I didn't have any home brewed oatmeal stout).

Recipe:
2 cups self rising flower
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 heaping table spoons of sugar
1 pint of Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
palm full of old fashioned oats to sprinkle on top

Sift self rising flower, oats and sugar in a large mixing bowl. After nicely sifted pour in 1 pint of beer (Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout in this case) and mix together. Spread in greased loaf pan. Sprinkle oats over the top of the mixture. Bake for 1 hour.

Found the recipe in a book I had on the shelf titled "The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide", though it called for rolled oats and 12 ounces of beer. Guess we will see how it comes out!

Yep... cant say that I recommend this. It just didn't turn out that great. I am no bread expert... but it was over cooked (hard on the outside) at an hour and it was a bit bland. Pretty much none of the beer flavor came through and it just wasn't sweet enough for me. So it goes I suppose, it was worth trying.

I just made bread from my spent grains but I undercooked it so it is very chewy but it would be great had I cooked it right. Was 5 cups flower, 4 cups spent grain, salt, sugar, and a bit of water.

I have also used beer yeast to rise my bread but that can be tricky and you often end up with a very dense loaf that looks something like swiss cheese. Very good tho, gives bread a nice bitterness.

GunnerMan said:

I just made bread from my spent grains but I undercooked it so it is very chewy but it would be great had I cooked it right. Was 5 cups flower, 4 cups spent grain, salt, sugar, and a bit of water.

I have also used beer yeast to rise my bread but that can be tricky and you often end up with a very dense loaf that looks something like swiss cheese. Very good tho, gives bread a nice bitterness.

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Good info, I'll be trying spent grain bread next. If I suck at it too I guess I'll just make dog biscuits... they like my food no matter how I screw it up.

RBChallenger said:

Yep... cant say that I recommend this. It just didn't turn out that great. I am no bread expert... but it was over cooked (hard on the outside) at an hour and it was a bit bland. Pretty much none of the beer flavor came through and it just wasn't sweet enough for me. So it goes I suppose, it was worth trying.

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In order for "beer bread" to turn out right, it takes a bit of work. It's well worth it though.

- Instead of having a doughy consistency, it should be somewhat more like a thick batter

- It takes a long time to cook, and when it comes out the crust will be VERY hard. This is typical of "quick" breads that do not use yeast. When it comes out of the oven, either leave it in the pan, or immediately wrap it in a towel and leave it for about an hour. This will cause the moisture in the middle of the loaf to "steam" the outside and soften it. This is part of the instructions when making irish soda bread, which beer bread is very similar to.

- You're not going to get a ton of beer flavor in the bread. Of course the stronger the beer, the more flavor you're going to get. For a fairly light white bread, newcastle brown ale works great. Wheat bears turn out a little weird, even though you would think they would be good.

- If it is exceptionally bland, add more salt next time. For oatmeal bread, molasses is a GREAT addition. One of my mom's favorite recipes when I was a kid was oatmeal molasses bread. A few tablespoons is enough. In addition, don't use old fashioned oats. Use "quick" or "instant" oats instead.

- Make sure that your self-rising flour or baking powder is very fresh. The older it is, the less active it is going to be. It is best if used within a few months of opening.

It takes a bit of practice, and a few loaves that won't turn out very good at all- but once you get the proportions nailed down, you can make pretty good bread very quickly. This is the recipe I always use as a base, and make additions from there:

1 12oz bottle of beer
3 tbsp sugar
3 cups self-rising flour

Preheat oven to 350f. Mix evenly. Batter should be sticky. Do not over-mix! Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.