Beer & Sultana Bread
This recipe uses only part of a can or bottle of bitter, but don’t worry – pour the rest into a glass and pop it in the fridge to go flat, because you can make a Beery Berry Crumble out of that later. Waste not, want not! I use a cake tin to make this loaf in because I haven’t got any baking trays for some bizarre reason, but that works really well in keeping the lovely ’round’ shape. Serve the bread warm cut into chunks like a scone, with butter and plum, fig or a jam of your choice. Mmm!
Makes 1 small loaf
200g plain flour, plus extra to knead the dough
a 7g sachet of fast-acting dried yeast
a small knob of fresh ginger, peeled, or a pinch of dried ginger
50g sultanas
160ml bitter, beer or ale
Weigh the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast. grate in the ginger, add the sultanas and mix through quickly with a fork or wooden spoon. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add a generous splash of bitter. Mix the liquid into the flour and keep adding the bitter little by little until it forms a sticky dough.
Tip the dough on to a well-floured work surface and knead and stretch for 10 minutes. Form it into a rounded lump shape then leave to rise for at least half an hour, uncovered.
knock the excess air out of the risen dough – but keeping the rounded shape – and place into a lightly greased cake tin, Victoria sandwich tin or on to a baking tray. Cover with cling film and leave the dough to rise in the tin for 1 to 2 hours until it’s doubled in size.
A little before the end of the rising time, put on the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 to preheat.
Uncover the dough. Score the top with two lines each way like you’re going to play noughts and crosses on it, and pop the tin into the middle of the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Take the bread out of the oven, turn out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. Then cut into thick slices and devour with butter. I start eating mine as soon as it’s cool enough to touch!
Tips: The best way to peel ginger is by scraping away the skin with a teaspoon.
Add a heaped tablespoon of oats to the flour and yeast mixture, and sprinkle some more on top of the
dough before putting it in the oven.
Use finely chopped fresh plums or dried prunes instead of the sultanas.
‘Beer And Sultana Bread’ recipe from A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe.
Twitter: @MsJackMonroe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
Categories: BREADS, Recipes & Food, VEGETARIAN
Just thought I’d mention, Spelt is not gluten-free! Spelt contains gluten, just like wheat, barley, and rye.
Oh no! My gluten free friend said she made her bread with spelt flour. Boo. 🙁 Oh well, I’ll keep it as a recipe but not a GF one then. Thanks!
It’s okay! A lot of people don’t realize Spelt contains gluten, since it’s not a very common grain. I wanna say the bread looks very good though! Good post anyway 🙂
I’ve clarified, it’s specifically wheat gluten she avoids hence using spelt. I’ve amended the wording so I don’t look silly, and yes the bread is delicious!
I make a beer or cider bread which doesn’t need any yeast. It requires cheese, and some herbs. If you google beer bread you will find quite a few recipes. I followed the one from Everybody Likes Sandwiches. I get cider or beer at Lidl for 99p a bottle and it uses 12 oz, so you you have some leftover to drink. Haven’t tried it with any other flour except wheat though.
Your blog is so amazing, it’s so hard to find veggie recipes that are cheap, simple and interesting without a million ingredients. And I love that you call your son Small Boy! Keep up the amazing blog!