Bread is Good Food

There was a discussion on the Online Meditation Crew Twitter Channel yesterday about bread (in between the football tweets).  Precious Metal mentioned that he had just made a loaf of bread using beer (but lamenting the fact that the only thing he had on hand was Labatt’s).  I tweeted that I had a good recipe for a quick-bread made using Guinness.  In response to some requests, recipes were shared on Facebook.  But, some people don’t use Facebook, and would still like the recipe, so, by special request – here is the Guinness Bread recipe.  It’s dark, but not as heavy as you would think.

And, since I like you, I’m including a bonus recipe.  Whenever I make this one, it goes fast, and I get multiple requests for the recipe. It’s Sun Dried Tomato and Olive Bread.  It’s a little more finicky, but it’s fun to experiment with!

Guinness Bread

4 C. flour
2 T. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/4 C. sugar
12 oz. Guinness
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375.  Sift together flour, powder, salt, and sugar.  Add Guinness and eggs. Stir until batter is just blended.

Pour into greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.  Bake for about 70 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool.

Sun Dried Tomato and Olive Bread

1-1/2 C. warm water
2 pkgs. yeast (about 4 tsp.)
4-1/2 to 5 C. flour
1/4 C. honey
1 T. salt
1 C. chopped sun-dried tomatoes*
1/2 C.  chopped, pitted, kalamata olives

In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup water with yeast until it dissolves. Let stand 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, honey, salt, and remaining water.  Add yeast mixture and mix.

Continue adding flour until a stiff dough forms.  Turn dough out onto floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (5-10 min).  Flatten dough.  Add tomatoes and olives on top of dough.  Fold in until tomatoes and olives are fairly evenly distributed. Place dough in greased bowl, cover lightly, and let rise until doubled in size (90 minutes).

Punch down and let rise again until doubled (60 minutes).

Punch down and divide in half.  Form halves into loaf shapes and place on a greased baking sheet*. Cover lightly and let rise until doubled (35 minutes).

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

*Notes: I find 1/2 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes soaked in boiling water for 10-15 minutes yields 1 cup.  I bake this using Italian loaf pans, which make for a rounded bottom, but flat on a baking sheet works okay, too.