I couldn’t resist trying out this “Guinness Bread with Molasses” by Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook:

Here is the recipe (you can find the original post and recipe at Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

• 3 cups self-rising flour*
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• A pinch of salt (roughly 1/8 teaspoon)
• 12 ounces of Guinness beer
• Butter for greasing the pan and painting the top, about 3 tablespoons

* If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can substitute using a ratio of 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, plus 1/8 teaspoon of salt, for every cup of self-rising flour. Have made both ways though and got better results from the self-rising flour.
Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan well with butter.

2. Pour the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour the Guinness into the flour mixture. (The “pub cans” are larger than 12 ounces, but they have better carbonation, so I pour most of it out and leave a swig to drink. This has never failed me, but if you are a stickler, use a 12-ounce bottle of Guinness instead.) Start stirring the beer into the dry ingredients, and when you are about halfway done, add the molasses. Mix well, just to combine. Don’t work the heck out of the batter – because that’s what it’ll look like – but you don’t want lumps, either.

4. Pour into the loaf pan to no more than 2/3 full. Pop into the oven immediately and bake for 50 minutes. Since ovens can vary, check the bread after 40 minutes and see if a toothpick inserted into the deepest part of the loaf comes out clean. If it does, you’re done.

5. Let the loaf cool a bit, maybe 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a rack. Paint it with lots of soft butter, which will melt as you go.

~~~End original recipe~~~

My take on it:

This was my St. Patrick’s Day cooking Odyssey. I decided to do a double batch. (Why heat up the oven for just one loaf of bread?)

I ended up using Guinness Extra Stout (who knew there WAS such a thing as stronger than Guinness?) — and blackstrap molasses, which is extra dark – so mine turned out quite dark compared to the original blogger’s version.  It’s a simple recipe, producing a slightly sweet bread, and not like anything I’ve baked before.  You can definitely taste the beer. (Shall we say- a glass in every slice?)  Unable to even attempt to finish the bread at home, I gave half-loaves to a few friends, all of whom liked it, and it was a hit with the office crowd as well.  I’d love to try again soon, with regular Guinness and a lighter molasses.  If you like beer, you should give it a try.

The question: if you make bread with the beer that claims to have a sandwich in every glass, does the universe implode?

SarahB

Tags: baking, beer, bread, molasses, odyssey, recipe, St. Patrick's Day