Beer Bread

I love bread. I love beer. It was only natural that when I saw this post, that I had to try this bread. I want to try this in the bread machine using the quick bread cycle, but didn't want my first batch to be experimental.

Classic Beer Bread:
3 cups self-rising flour
3 tbsp sugar
12 oz room temperature beer [recommended Fat Tire]

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan with shortening.

Stir together the flour and sugar. Add the beer and stir until combined. Spoon into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour. Remove immediately from pan and place on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet. Pour melted butter on top of the bread, letting it drip down the sides.

Gruyere-Rosemary: use a beer such as New Belgium's Blue Paddle Pilsner lager. Stir in 1 cup -shredded Gruyere cheese and 1 tbsp fresh rosemary to the basic dough. Brush top with melted butter after removing from the pan.

Orange Nutmeg: use a wheat beer, such as Mothership Wit. Zest a large orange and add the zest and 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (I used jarred) to the basic dough. While the bread bakes, juice half of the orange. Whisk with some powdered sugar to make a glaze. Remove cooked bread from the pan, poke sveral holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour the glaze over the bread, allowing it to drip down the sides.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip: use a dark beer such as 1554. Substitute brown sugar for the granulated. Stir in 3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli) and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the basic dough. Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon-sugar before baking. Rub the top of the bread with butter after removing from the pan.