There is nothing better than fresh bread right from the oven.When the bread is warm, chewy and literally melts in your mouth. Bliss! Bread need not be difficult to make, and I have had great success with homemade bread (including numerous recipes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which was great because you could bake small loaves every few days from the same starter batch), but I had yet to make one of those cheese breads you see in the stores. The ones with the goops of melted cheese sprinkled amongst the bread.
I finally decided to try my hand at a cheese bread after being intrigued by a dill and cheddar beer bread posted at Eat Me, Delicious, and originally found at Farmgirl Susan. A beer bread? A bread without yeast? Dill and cheddar, oh my! So off I went and assembled this ridiculously easy bread and popped it in the oven.
First of all, as you could probably imagine this is not your traditional bread (no yeast!) and as such it was a dense loaf. That, coupled with the slight beer tang, is my only gripe. I was hoping for something more fluffy, but I thought the dill and cheddar flavours were delicious. The beer tang mellowed the following day, but that defeats the glorious good times of eating half a loaf of bread straight from the oven. 😉
This is my submission to this month’s No Croutons Required featuring bread. This dish would be perfect with a simple soup as this bread has such complex flavours itself.
Dill and Cheddar Beer Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
325 mL (12 ounces) beer
Optional glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten
1. Heat oven to 375F. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, dill, and cheddar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick. Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan, brush with egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
2. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 1 loaf.
the taste space 
Wow, what a mouth watering bread, the color of cheddar in the crust is just amazing !!!
Thanks for the great recipe!
I brought a loaf over to a friend’s place for a potluck contribution and it was a great success! 🙂
DtB
Thanks for letting me know how it turned out! Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it. 🙂
This bread sounds delicious. I do love dill and cheddar. I’ve used box mixes for “beer bread” before (from Trader Joe’s), but used hard cider instead (because that’s what I drink, so why bother buying beer). I found that it gave the bread a little more sweetness, but still had the nice chewy consistency. You might give that a try if you don’t like the beer taste in the bread.
Thanks for the recipe! Looking forward to trying!
Thanks for the tip, Lauren! I think you are right that I might prefer cider instead of the typical beer taste. 🙂
I saw this from a link on AT Kitchn and really want to try it. I bet it was denser/sandy because all of the fat comes from the cheddar, which can be “lean” at times. When I try it, I may replace some of the cheddar with a little olive oil or sour cream.
It looks gorgeous! Sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out as you’d hoped but I’m happy to hear your friend enjoyed it.
We’ve been making beer bread in our family for years. The fact that it takes one hour from start to baked is incredible! I like to use half white, half whole wheat flour. The whole wheat gives the loaf a much more rustic texture, not to mention a tad healthier.
Thanks for the tip! I may try half whole-wheat next time, Anna. I had run out when I made this loaf, unfortunately.
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I saw this on Eat Me, Delicious as well and thought. Oh my god I need to make that. Beer AND cheese? Um can it get any better. I bet it would be great covered with some cream cheese and lox. I’ve really been craving lox lately. Yes I am seriously insane 😛
So many great flavours in this bread!
Is there anything else I could substitute for the beer? I’m wanting to make this today, but we aren’t big beer drinkers so I don’t have any.
I haven’t tried any substitutes, but something like carbonated water or another carbonated drink (sprite), might work too. If you try it, let me know how it turns out as I didn’t really like the beer taste! 🙂
I just finished baking this and eating a piece after it cooled down. It is amazing and I used an apricot beer made here in Alberta. For any other Calgary/Edmonton readers, you may know it (Alley Kat Apricat). It went really nice with the cheddar and dill and doesn’t give an overly tangy beer taste. I’d love to give it a try with a non-alcoholic cider as well (and most likely will).
I can imagine baking this all year around but agree this would be amazing in the fall/winter with a soup!
I am so glad to hear it worked. I think trying a non-alcoholic cider may be just the tip I could use as well. 🙂 Thanks for telling me about it. 🙂
Funny Paul, I used to make a VERY similar beer bread with Alley Kat Coffee beer, but used nuts and raisins + ww flour= best morning start… but they discontinued it?!? I think Aprikat sounds grand, as would their new mead.
Saveur, great post! The thing aboutthe recipe is the yeast in the beer. I don’t think carbonated water would work… Not sure though…
I made this a few days ago with a Guinness that had a nitrogen canister in it so it was super-charged when it went in the batter. From the picture you put up, I think I can tell that mine rose a little higher, and we didn’t find the texture too dense (for a quickbread), so maybe that would help you too.
Sounds like yours worked well, Shawna. Thank you for the update. 🙂
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