Beer Bread

Copying Megan a little bit, I thought I'd share a recipe that I love to make about once a week. First, a little bit of a background...

There's this company called Tastefully Simple (think Avon or Mary Kay for food products; i.e., there's a consultant and you order from her), and their token product is Beer Bread. You buy the mix, and just add a bottle of beer (or soda, although I haven't tried it that way), stick it in the oven, and you have the most delicious bread ever. Well, this beer bread mix is about $5 a box, which is expensive if you want it all the time.

Well my neighbor, Catie, found a recipe that tastes almost exactly the same, and when she priced it out, costs only about $.39 to make. I will say, I don't think it's quite as good as Tastefully Simple's mix, but it's pretty darn close. It's super easy and super quick and has become a staple at our house.

3 cups self-rising flour
3-4 T sugar
1 bottle 12 oz. beer
1 or 2 T of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together the flour, sugar and beer. Pour into greased bread pan. Pour melted butter on top if you want a crispy outer crust. Bake about 50-55 min. Enjoy!

Since I am no expert on beer, I let Grant decide what beer to use the first time I made the Tastefully Simple bread. He picked out Blue Moon Pale Ale. We tried another beer later, and it didn't taste as good, so we've always used the Blue Moon. I don't know how much difference beer makes to the taste, but this is what I would recommend.