This cheese and hard beer bread recipe is brilliant and super easy! You need just a few basic ingredients, a light stout beer, and sharp cheddar cheese. It’s the perfect bread for beginners and beer lovers alike!
The beauty of beer bread is its simplicity. Mix, bake, and enjoy! In this version, we combine stout beer with cheddar and scallions. Serve this delicious bread as a side to homemade chili or a creamy soup like potato soup, or enjoy it with a little butter as a snack.
This beer bread recipe only requires a bowl, a spoon, and a bread pan. No mixer or fancy ingredients needed. It’s also a great excuse to buy your favorite stout beer! If you have some beer left over, make our Guinness Chocolate Cake or our Guinness Beef Stew. For a light beer bread, try our light beer bread, which I love when made with lager or pilsner.
Key Ingredients
- Self Raising Flour: Unlike all-purpose flour, self-raising flour adds baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour makes beer bread super easy, but you can use all-purpose if that’s all you have. For 3 cups of self-raising flour, whisk together 3 cups of all-purpose flour and 4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Sugar, Salt and Pepper: Granulated sugar balances the beer and helps make our bread soft. Then, we add a little salt and pepper to the bread that is completely soaked. (We only add a little salt, as self-rising flour has added salt.)
- Stout Beer: You taste the beer used in this bread recipe, so use something you already enjoy. Stout beer tastes rich and bitter. It also adds color to the bread. We recommend that you avoid really hoppy beers like IPAs and APAs, as their bitterness can be too strong for bread. If you don’t like strong beer, substitute lagers, pilsners, or amber ales like this easy beer bread recipe.
- Butter: This beer bread calls for a large amount of butter, and I like it that way. You will put most of the butter on the bread and brush the rest over the batter in the pan, adding a delicious buttery crust as it bakes.
- Cheddar Cheese: Most cheeses will work when making this beer bread, but I like sharp cheddar. Irish or English cheddar is even better!
- Green Onion: I like to stir sliced green onions into the bread dough. It works best with stout beer and cheese.
How to Make Strong Beer Bread
Making beer bread couldn’t be easier. Mix the dry ingredients together, and pour your beer and melted butter. This comes together as a wet dough – almost like a thick cake batter.
Put the beer bread dough into your loaf pan, then add the cheese and scallions. Pour melted butter over the top to get a golden crust, then bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cheese Stout Beer Bread
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PREP
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COOK
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TOTAL
Beer bread is the easiest bread to bake! You only need a few things: basic ingredients, a bowl, a spoon, a bread pan, and your favorite beer. This recipe is incredibly versatile – try a stout (like we did), a light beer, a pilsner, a lager, a pumpkin ale, or a hard cider. Avoid really hoppy beers, as they will be too strong.
We recommend an 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pan. If you only have a 9 x 5 pan, don’t worry! Start testing your bread for doneness about 5 minutes before the minimum baking time listed in the recipe.
Profiler tip: Use a lined baking sheet or combine two standard baking sheets for even more baking. This simple trick makes a big difference!
Makes 1 loaf, 10 slices
You will need it
4 tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided
3 cups (390g) self-raising flour
Three ounces (85g) sharp cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes (about 3/4 cup)
2 scallions, ends trimmed and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
A good pinch of sea salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh black pepper
12 ounces of stout beer or beer of your choice (1 ½ cups)
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and brush an 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pan with a little melted butter.
2Place about 10 slices of cheese and a handful of sliced scallions on top of the bread.
3Mix the flour, remaining cheese, green onion, sugar, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl until well combined. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the beer. Stir until smooth. Mix two-thirds of the butter, leaving the remaining third on top of the bread.
4Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Top with the reserved cheese and scallion, then drizzle with the remaining third of the butter.
5Bake the bread until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.
6Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Tips from Adam and Joanne
- To save: Store in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. Otherwise, the bread will start to dry out. Or freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw the night before enjoying. I like frozen slices for each serving.
- Homemade flour: Mix 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Changes: Sharp cheddar and scallions are our staple, but the options are endless. Try crumbled bacon, roasted garlic, herbs like rosemary, or roasted shallots. Try other beers, or a non-alcoholic version, use non-alcoholic beer or seltzer water.
- The nutrition facts given below are estimates.
Food Per Serving
Serving Size
1 piece (12 total)
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Calories
194
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Perfect Oils
6.5g
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Saturated Fats
3.8g
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Cholesterol
17.2 mg
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Sodium
424.2mg
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Carbohydrate
26.6g
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Dietary fiber
0.9g
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Total Sugar
2.2g
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Proteins
4.9g
