Beer Bread

Good stuff- hubby and guests loved it!I had to do a bit of "guess and by-golly" as I don't have a bread machine and I am new to the whole bread making process... made the starter- no prob. For the rest: I proofed the yeast in the milk with a touch of sugar for 5 minutes. Combined the egg, oil and salt. Added milk/yeast mixture and oil/egg mixture to the starter and added enough flour so that the dough didn't stick to the bowl. Then turned out on a floured surface and kneaded, adding flour to prevent stickiness, until dough was smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Put dough in a floured bowl and left to rise, covered, one hour. Punched down and let rest 10 minutes then formed into a slightly flattened ball. Lightly greased my baking stone then covered with steel cut oats (corn meal would work too) then placed the dough on the stone and left to rise, covered, another hour. In a small pan I boiled 1/3 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch until thick and clear. When dough was ready to bake I brushed on the "wash" then cut a tic-tac-toe design in the top of the bread (like sourdough) then baked it at 350* until it sounded hollow when tapped (about 30 minutes). Served this with Mushroom Stew #19044 and Miller's Guiness's cake. A nice beer-y meal. ;) Oh, and used MacTarnahan's Blackwatch Cream Porter...very nice. Sorry about the book- I just want those, who, like me don't have a bread machine, to know that this is still a recipe that can be made with good results.

I followed this recipe to the T. Didn't change a thing. Having absolute faith in Cindy's recipes, I doubled the recipe. The first starter was used just 12 hours after I made it, and I left the other starter alone for 24 hours before I made the second one. I personally didn't think it made much of a difference leaving it for 12 or 24 hours. It was an extremely fragrant loaf of bread. I can see this being a bread made very often in my house. Thanks Cindy for yet another wonderful recipe.

WOW, this is really a very good tasting bread the texture is great. Easy to make. I served it with my delicious homemade Vegetable beef soup.. This recipe will be a regular in our house, Thanks Cindy.

This bread worked really well when I used 1 c unbleached white flour mixed with the beer, turbinado sugar , and yeast and let sit out overnight. The next day I used 1 c. stone ground whole wheat and 1 c. spelt flours for the rest of the flour and it turned out to be a nice loaf!

Very good bread. It doesn't taste beery (for those that might be afraid to try it) but has a good yeasty flavour. Mixed the starter and the rest of the ingredients in my KitchenAid with the dough hook (speed 2 until it came together, speed 1 for 1 minute after that). Added almost another cup of flour while mixing, then decided a sticky dough is fine. Placed in a greased bowl and let rise until double. Punched down and transferred to a sprayed loaf pan. Allowed to rise again until it was over the edge of the pan. Baked in a countertop convection oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, laid foil over the top, and baked for 20 minutes more. Ate it with beef stew made with....the rest of the bottle of beer! Very very good.