The Beer Bread Challenge

I really like Tastefully Simple's Beer Bread Mix.

Unfortunately, I don't always have some on hand.

And it's not something I can just pick up at the store.

Recently I saw a post on a blog called 

The Backyard Pioneer for beer bread.

As it happened I was waiting for my order 

from Tastefully Simple to arrive so I 

figured it would be a great time to give another

beer bread recipe a try.

Tastefully Simple's Bountiful Beer Bread Mix

only calls for 2 added ingredients;

one can of beer and 1/4 cup of melted butter. 

You can't get any easier without buying ready-made.

I wondered if a "from scratch" recipe 

could be easy enough

and taste good enough

 to replace a proven favorite...

another incentive is the difference in cost. 

Tastefully Simple's dry mix costs almost $6 per loaf.

The dry ingredients for a "from scratch" loaf 

would be less than $1.

I wondered about the difficulty 

of making it from scratch, 

and would my taste testers 

be able to tell the difference?

So a beer bread challenge was on...

This is how I made the "from scratch" beer bread:

 I gathered the ingredients; flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, beer, and butter.

I sifted the flour into a large bowl.

I added the rest of the dry ingredients and gave it a little stir.

Then the part I think is the most fun...I poured in the stinky beer and watched it foam all over.

I stirred it just enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients and then I put the dough into a greased bread pan.

Then I poured 1/2 stick of melted butter over the top and put the pan in a preheated 375 degree oven for 55 minutes...that wasn't too hard at all!!

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.

This is what it looked like as we sliced through the loaf...(Tastefully Simple's loaf is crumbly when it is warm too)

Would my taste testers know the difference?

This is the official recipe for beer bread from The Backyard Pioneer :

• 3 cups flour (sifted)
• 3 teaspoons  baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) can beer
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a bread pan with PAM.
In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Pour in beer.
Stir just to combine wet and dry ingredients.
Put dough in bread pan and pour melted butter over the top.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from bread pan.

What was the taste tester's bottom line?
Well, my taste testers didn't have a clue that this bread was any different than the one I usually make from Tastefully Simple. I could tell the difference. I think the Tastefully Simple mix is perhaps a little sweeter. I don't think there is a big enough difference in the taste or in the amount of work to justify the extra cost of the Tastefully Simple mix.

The bottom line: My order from Tastefully Simple has now arrived. I will use the bread mix that I have, but I will plan to make my beer bread from scratch in the future.