Beer Bread

Last weekend was a lazy weekend, but featured a lot of cooking. I got my recipe for potatoes with lemon and za'atar to come out just right (by microwaving (instead of boiling) the potato before sauteeing), cooked leeks with radish, carrot, and fancy sausage, and made sandwiches with (among other things) Lake's Edge cheese, cider blackened pork, and homemade beer bread.

My first loaf of beer bread (on Saturday) turned out so good that I made another on Sunday. And it's really a remarkable bread-making technique (from here):

• Mix 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup sugar, mix in 12 fl. oz. beer
• Melt 1/4 cup butter
• Use some of the butter to grease a loaf pan
• Put the dough in the pan
• Pour the remaining butter on top
• Optionally top with seasoned salt or sugar
• Bake at 375°F for 1 hour
• Remove from pan, let cool 15 min

This uses a minimum of steps and dishes, the whole process can be done in 1.5 hours, with only about 20 minutes of actual work, including cleanup. The source suggests sifting the flour, but I skipped that step and thought the texture was very good, so don't know if that makes a difference.