Delicious and Easy Guinness Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you use beer instead of water in bread dough? ›

You can easily replace the liquid in most bread recipes with beer. This can have a very pronounced effect on your final dough as there is a lot more chemical and biological fun happening in beer than there is in water. In my experience, the dough with beer will usually rise faster than a similar dough with water.

Lighter beers, such as lagers, ales and pilsners, will give your bread a lighter color, and mild taste that just about everyone loves. Darker beers like stouts and porters make a darker-colored loaf and have a stronger beer flavor. Hoppy beers like IPAs will give your bread a more bitter taste.

Traditional Irish brown bread is a simple combination of whole wheat and white flours, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk; this version adds a bit of enrichment in the form of sugar and butter (or oil) for a slightly sweeter, more tender loaf.

It adds nutritional value to baked goods. Mainly protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 which are all necessary for a heathy diet. But we don't only look for the nutritional benefits when using milk in our bread dough. The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter.

Flavor: Beer can add a distinct malty or hoppy flavor to the dough, depending on the type of beer used. Yeast activity: Beer contains yeast, which can ferment the dough and help it rise. This can result in a softer, lighter texture compared to dough made with just water.

Your beer isn't cold yet! Well, don't worry, because when making our beer bread, you can use warm OR cold beer! When pouring the beer into the bowl with the mix, we recommend pouring slowly, so it doesn't over-bubble. The same goes for any carbonated beverage you use to make our Beer Bread Mix; cold or hot will work!

If you bake an overworked dough, it will come out hard. Even though you aren't kneading beer bread, the same principle applies. It can be harder to tell when the dough is overworked, though, since you won't feel it in your hands and the mixture isn't supposed to be smooth. Instead, rely on your eyes.

Without sufficient leavening from the beer, a loaf of beer bread will be fairly dense and heavy unless an additional leavening agent (e.g., baking soda, baking powder, baker's yeast and sugar, sourdough starter, or wild yeast cultured from the environment) is added.

Guinness is a hearty beer with notes of coffee and dark chocolate. It pairs well with soda bread, a staple in Ireland. Clavin said a classic cheese board is a good snack pairing, with strawberry preserves and sharp Irish cheddar, Gouda, Asiago or Pecorino Romano cheeses to contrast the sweetness of the beer.

It was for everyday use, and its distinctive soft, crumbly, dense texture results from the "soft" wheat that grows in the cool climate of Ireland, meaning that it doesn't have enough protein to form the gluten structure of yeast-raised breads. Hence the use of baking soda, originally potash, as a leavening agent.

What is the most popular bread in Ireland? ›

Most Irishmen and women eat Irish brown bread for breakfast or lunch. It's best served simple, with a pad of Kerrygold butter or used as a dunker with soup.

So… does beer hydrate you? Now that you know all the health benefits of beer, let's get back to the “no.” No, beer does not hydrate you. Indeed, it can be dangerous to drink beer, or any other beverage out under the sun, in hot weather or after playing active sports, not because it's beer, but because it is alcohol.

The beer acts in place of yeast as the leavening agent, along with the baking powder. Keep in mind, the alcohol evaporates in the baking process, so it is safe for the kids to enjoy as well. Add in cheese if you like, it's not necessary, but it is delicious. Drizzling butter on top helps it have a nice crust.

When you add beer to your bread mix, the beer's yeast content reacts with the baking powder and starches in the flour, causing the dough to rise and start to leaven. When you add the beer, you might notice the dough bubble and foam—that's the yeast working its magic!

Bread recipes call for yeast because carbon dioxide is the key ingredient needed to puff up the dough and make the bread fluffy. Since most beers still contain yeast cells at the end of the fermentation process, you can substitute a can of beer for yeast for a denser result.