I’ve said before that this is more a baking journal than a baking blog, and that means detailing some of the boring bakes. The flops, if you will. In my journey to discover more exciting beer breads, I decided to try a savory one. When I saw pickle beer in the store, I figured it was perfect for a State Fair bake. But in practice… it wasn’t a super strong flavor.
I added extra dill and some shredded cheddar to this bread to hopefully up the flavor ante. But it just wasn’t as strong a flavor as some of the other beer breads. Perhaps the beer’s fault, because I don’t typically think that pickle is a subtle flavor. But in a bread, maybe it just needed more. Maybe adding pickle brine to it would help?
However, I don’t feel passionate enough about this flavor combo to keep workshopping this. If I LOVED pickles, maybe I would. But I am just a mild pickle fan, and I honestly don’t know if an incredibly pickle-y bread would even taste that good.
So… oh well! This just helps me narrow down the flavor list for my beer breads. And I think I’ve concluded that going the sweet route will be both more fun and more tasty. Those flavors have just been stronger, and lend themselves to more interesting mix-ins.
Apologies if this was a boring blog post… “I made this bread and it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great, and I don’t really feel like figuring out how to make it better.” Sometimes, that’s just the way it is. I’m still going to share the recipe, since it wasn’t bad, and I may eventually want to remember this and re-tool it!
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PinIngredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tbsp chopped dill
- 12 oz pickle beer
- 3 Tbsp melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly spray the sides of a 9×5″ loaf pan. Set aside.
- To a mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder and stir to combine. Stir in the shredded cheese and dill. Make a little well in the center of the dry ingredients.
- Pour in the beer and stir until no flour streaks remain.
- Add half of the melted butter to the bottom of prepared loaf pan and tilt the pan around so the butter coats the bottom of the pan. Transfer batter to pan, spreading it out into an even layer.
- Pour remaining half of the melted butter over the top of the batter, brushing it around so it evenly coats the top. Sprinkle with extra cheese, if desired.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.