My mom introduced me to beer…bread. 🙂 Believe me…if there were a wine version I would’ve known about it (and she would’ve told me about it) WAY sooner than just a few months ago. But back to beer. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of her busy life in Florida she told me about this here beer bread she made for…oh…I don’t know…book club? mahjong? bunko? Take your pick, she does them all – that Floridian social butterfly. Either way, the beer bread made its way into my inbox, my Pinterest and about every meal I can think to fit it into. What better time to share it than March? The month of shamrocks, leprechaun’s and BEER!

The whole shebang started with Valerie Bertinelli’s Crazy Easy Quickbread recipe which…I mean…if your recipe has beer in it why don’t you lead with that, right? I mean it is crazy easy quick to make so I suppose it’s not inaccurate. Just make sure you remember to set your beer out so it gets to room temp before you start.

I’ve explored making this with a couple different beers and at the end of the day I’d say to just go with whatever your favorite “cheap” beer is. Don’t use that expensive lager you’ve been storing for the perfect moment. This time around I chose this light, flavorful Birthday Beer by Shiner and it is super yummy.

Now, the beer bread recipe alone is delightful, fluffy, soft yet dense – delicious all around. But of course my mom makes it for me for the first time and upon pulling it out of the oven my usually health conscious mom turns to me and scandalously says, “Well when I was younger we used to smother it in butter right out of the oven…should we do that?” What answer could she possibly have expected with a question like that? Hell yes we are smothering it in butter!!

That particular Christmas Eve we used regular old butter but I got to thinking and decided this needed a yummy compound butter.

If you haven’t made compound butters before you are so missing out! They’re insanely easy to make and store just like butter…because they are…butter. Whip a sweet one up for dessert or breakfast breads, make a savory or herb packed one for steak – they always elevate a dish.

Since most beers are nicely highlighted with a bit of lemon I went with the simple, clean flavors of rosemary, shallot and lemon zest. But if you’re going with say a Blue Moon that is traditionally served with orange, the recipe below could easily be adapted with orange zest (and now I want to try that one!).

And I know what you’re thinking, “I like to have butter with my bread.” No worries…on top of smothering that bread with butter right out of the oven, you will have plenty left over to serve with your bread too. 🙂

One last thing before recipe time – this bread has endless possibilities. I’ve served it with chili, stews, meatballs and the newest one I’m excited about is BRUNCH – this would be killer with some avocado and an over easy egg…mouth…is…watering…

INGREDIENTS

•  2 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 12oz bottle/can room temperature beer
• 1 heaping tbsp freshly chopped rosemary
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan

THE BUTTER:

• 1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
• 1/8 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 1 tbsp minced shallot
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary (very small – minced)
• zest of two medium-large lemons

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Using the wrapper of the butter or cooking spray, prep a loaf pan.
3. Combine all bread ingredients into a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, mix until just combined and then transfer to loaf pan.
4. Bake about 30-45 mins. Looking for a lightly browned top and toothpick should come out clean.
5. While loaf is baking, make the butter. Make sure butter is soft enough to work with. Combine all ingredients into bowl with a spoon or fork until evenly distributed.
6. Once loaf comes out of oven, let cool for 3-5 mins in loaf pan.
7. Turn loaf out on wax paper and cover with half of the butter – making sure to cover all sides. Butter will be melting into loaf.
8. Enclose loaf in wax paper and then cover wax paper with foil. For best results, let marinate on counter for 30-40 mins.
9. While loaf is marinating, turn remaining butter out onto a small piece of wax paper and roll into a loaf. Store in fridge and serve with your beer bread.
10. Devour it all…