The BEST Beer Bread Recipe - No Yeast Needed! (2024)

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Hands-down the best beer bread recipe ever!! Fluffy and flavorful, this easy yeast-free bread recipe is practically foolproof!

The BEST Beer Bread Recipe - No Yeast Needed! (1)

When I was a kid, my mom got a bread maker and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever! It was so much fun to help make different recipes and the smell of bread baking was heavenly!

One of the recipes we tried was “beer bread” — I remember it being super easy and totally delicious.

When this whole “lockdown” thing started, one of the first things stores ran out of was yeast. That’s when I remembered that beer bread recipe that I used to make with my mom and I insisted to my husband that we try it! No yeast needed!!

Oh my goodness…it turned out even better than in my memories!

First…the crust. It’s golden brown and has that perfect chewy texture of fresh-baked bread.

Inside is buttery, fluffy, and crazy flavorful. The aromatic spices mingle with a hint of hops from the beer and it is a treat for your taste buds!

The whole family went crazy for our first loaf — it tasted incredible paired with my husband’s famous spaghetti!

The BEST Beer Bread Recipe - No Yeast Needed! (2)

What is Beer Bread?

Beer bread is is a type of bread known as “quick bread”, which is bread that uses a leavening agent other than yeast or eggs.

Because it doesn’t require yeast or eggs, this is the perfect bread recipe to make when you haven’t had a chance to run to the store or for times when those particular ingredients might be hard to find.

Like other quick breads, beer bread is super easy to make! There’s no waiting for bread to rise or worrying that you’ll “mess up” that process. It’s nearly impossible to mess up!

All you have to do is stir together the ingredients, pour into a baking pan, and bake!

The BEST Beer Bread Recipe - No Yeast Needed! (3)

What You Need to Make Beer Bread

  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt
  • Baking powder — This is one ingredient you can’t skip! Without baking powder, the bread will not rise up as well.
  • Sugar — Sugar is also important because it reacts with the beer to help make the bread rise.
  • Beer — One 12 ounce can or bottle is perfect!
  • Italian seasoning — This seasoning is optional, but I love the way the Italian seasoning mingles with the beer flavor. It’s almost like breadsticks or pizza dough in taste!
  • Garlic powder — Also optional, but my husband swears by garlic powder to make just about anything taste even better!
  • Melted butter – Pouring this over our bread before baking will give it the perfect golden brown crust!

How to Make Beer Bread

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Always sift the flour as you add it to the mixing bowl! This step creates a lighter, fluffier bread.

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When adding the beer, pour slowly in case it starts to foam. Allow the foam to settle a bit, then keep pouring.

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Stir ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. You only need to mix until everything is just combined and the dough comes together. You don’t want to overwork the dough.

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Pouring melted butter over the dough in the pan will create a beautiful golden brown crust when baking.

What Kind of Beer is Best?

You can use any type of beer, so go with your favorite! Each type of beer will provide its own unique flavor to the bread, so its fun to experiment!

Just like the beer itself, a lighter beer will create a milder bread, while a darker beer will give you a bread with more intense flavor profile.

Can Beer Bread Get You Drunk?

Not to worry! Beer is low in alcohol to begin with, and by the time your bread is done baking, most (if not all) of the alcohol will evaporate.

In an article for the Pittsburg Post-Gazette,Robert Bates, who teaches industrial food fermentation at the University of Florida, says that there’s no more alcohol in a loaf of fresh-baked beer bread than “if you squeezed a fresh orange.” You cannot get drunk, or even tipsy, from eating beer bread.

Our kidslove beer bread, but if you’re worried at all or uncomfortable cooking with alcohol, feel free to substitute with non-alcoholic beer.

Can You Use Non-Acoholic Beer?

Yes! The carbonation is what really matters here, as it interacts with the sugar and the baking powder to help the bread rise.

As we mentioned above, almost all of the alcohol cooks out of the bread; however, non-alcoholic beer is a perfectly acceptable substitute if you want all the flavor and zero alcohol.

How to Store It?

Beer bread can last for a few days if you keep it in a sealed container. We usually just put ours in a large ziplock bag!

You could also freeze it for later, and it would keep for about a month in the freezer. Be sure to use freezer bags for this to prevent freezer burn.

More of our favorite easy bread recipes:

  • Slow Cooker Bread with Rosemary
  • Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread Wreath
  • Microwave Monkey Bread
  • Chocolate Cloud Bread
  • Easy Southern Biscuits

Easy Beer Bread Recipe (Printable Copy)

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The BEST Beer Bread Recipe

Fluffy and flavorful, this easy beer bread is a yeast-free bread recipe that is sure to become your new favorite!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time55 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: baking, bread, easy recipes

Servings: 12

Calories: 184kcal

Author: Stacey aka the Soccer Mom

Cost: $4

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 12 oz beer
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning optional
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder optional
  • 1/4 cup butter

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F, grease a loaf pan and set aside.

  • Sift flour into large mixing bowl. Add salt, baking powder, sugar, and seasonings.

  • Add beer to mixing bowl, pouring slowly, as it might create a bit of foam.

  • Stir until ingredients are just combined and dough forms.

  • Scoop dough into your prepared loaf pan and spread to evenly distribute.

  • Pour 1/4 cup melted butter on top and bake for 55 minutes.

  • Check at 50 minutes; remove from oven when bread starts to turn golden brown on top. This may take up to an hour depending on your oven.

Video

Notes

Note: Nutrition information is a rough estimate only; actual values will vary based on the exact ingredients used and amount of recipe prepared.

Nutrition

Calories: 184kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 230mg | Potassium: 145mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 118IU | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 2mg

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  • Author
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Stacey aka the Soccer Mom

Stacey is the creator of The Soccer Mom Blog, a Houston Texas mom blog that focuses on positive living for women and families. She loves to share real food recipes, money-saving tips, parenting encouragement, kids activities, DIY tutorials, home hacks, fitness, and so much more! To get to know Stacey even better, click here.

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The BEST Beer Bread Recipe - No Yeast Needed! (2024)

FAQs

Can I use beer instead of yeast to make bread? ›

Bread recipes call for yeast because carbon dioxide is the key ingredient needed to puff up the dough and make the bread fluffy. Since most beers still contain yeast cells at the end of the fermentation process, you can substitute a can of beer for yeast for a denser result.

What is the best beer to use for beer bread? ›

Use a plain, ultra light beer like Miller Light. (If you live in Wisconsin and want an upgrade, try New Glarus Spotted Cow.) Go Seasonal. Try making beer bread with pumpkin ale, a nutty brown winter ale, or even a hard cider.

What makes bread rise without yeast? ›

Baking Soda

It helps breads rise and gives them their light and airy texture. Unlike yeast, baking soda needs an acid to activate it. By adding an acid to baking soda (such as lemon juice or cream of tartar) a chemical reaction occurs that produces carbon dioxide and fills your bread with air — much like yeast does.

What bread is made without the use of yeast? ›

Soda Bread

This sturdy breakfast bread comes together and relies on baking soda as a leavener. You can swap out the walnuts and dried currants with any chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruit you have in your pantry.

What happens if you don't add yeast to beer? ›

What happens when you forget to add yeast to homebrew ale or beer? If you have sanitized everything properly, and the container is properly sealed, nothing happens. The wort just sits there and does nothing. The sugars in the wort don't ferment and no alcohol is produced.

Can I use beer instead of water when making bread? ›

Baking at home has never been more popular. Whether you're making bread with your own sourdough starter or instant yeast, get ready to raise your game again with my favourite baking hack: replacing water with beer in the dough mix.

Does beer have to be warm for beer bread? ›

Your beer isn't cold yet! Well, don't worry, because when making our beer bread, you can use warm OR cold beer! When pouring the beer into the bowl with the mix, we recommend pouring slowly, so it doesn't over-bubble. The same goes for any carbonated beverage you use to make our Beer Bread Mix; cold or hot will work!

Why is my beer bread so dense? ›

Luckily, if you encounter this problem every time you break out the beer and the batter, there is an easy fix for your next loaf: Watch how much you're working it. Overworking the dough of your beer bread will affect the texture, causing it to turn from soft and chewy to tough and condensed.

Why is my beer bread tough? ›

There could be couple of reasons why your beer bread turned out tough. Too much flour can cause the bread to be too dense and hard. Another reason could be that you stirred the batter too much. Quick breads rely on the chemical reaction that occurs when baking powder is mixed with a liquid.

How did people bake bread before yeast? ›

The most common source of leavening in antiquity was to retain a piece of dough (with sugar and water in) from the previous day to utilize as a form of sourdough starter. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples".

What did the pioneers use instead of yeast? ›

Pioneers used both corn meal and wheat flours for bread. They baked bread in cast iron bake kettles set in the coals of the open hearth. Pearlash, eggs, saleratus, an early chemical leavening preceding baking soda, and home-created yeast starters were used to leaven bread.

How did people bake without yeast? ›

With No Yeast : The Salt : NPR. Bake Bread Like A Pioneer In Appalachia ... With No Yeast : The Salt Bacteria can make a bread rise and give it a cheesy flavor. That's the secret ingredient in salt rising bread, which dates to the late 1700s in Appalachia, when bakers didn't have yeast on hand.

Does Ezekiel bread have yeast? ›

Ezekiel bread ingredients typically include the following: organic sprouted wheat, filtered water, organic malted barley, organic sprouted rye, organic sprouted barley, organic sprouted oats, organic sprouted millet, organic sprouted corn, organic sprouted brown rice, fresh yeast, organic wheat gluten and sea salt.

Can you get yeast free bread? ›

Yeast Free Bread - Available from Food for Life

What's great about Food For Life's yeast free bread is that it is high in vegetable based protein so you are eating the perfect bread that both avoids yeast that converts into sugar and strengthens your immune system with whole food that is protein packed.

Does pumpernickel bread have yeast? ›

U.S. pumpernickel is less distinctive because it usually incorporates wheat flour and yeast, giving it a springier crumb structure and higher rise than European pumpernickel. Therefore, there's not much to set U.S. pumpernickel apart from regular rye bread.

How does beer affect bread dough? ›

When beer is added to yeast dough, it can affect the dough in a few ways. The alcohol in the beer can act as a solvent, breaking down the gluten in the dough and making it more relaxed and less elastic. This can result in a softer, more tender bread.

What does beer do to dough? ›

Beer as a leavening agent

Beer contains yeast which can add to anything you are cooking that needs to rise. The carbonation in beer can also make baked goods light and fluffy. Beer bread is an obvious example of this, as well as pizza dough (check out my recipe for beer pizza dough that I shared here).

Can you make yeast from beer? ›

By creating a small, simplified batch of beer known as a starter, we can turn a little bit of yeast into a lot of yeast. Like most microorganisms, yeast will reproduce at an amazingly fast rate when put into an ideal environment.

What is a substitute for beer in bread recipe? ›

Easy Substitutions

You can use chicken broth, ginger ale, white grape juice, or white wine if your recipe calls for a light beer. Use beef broth, chicken broth, mushroom stock, apple juice, apple cider, root beer, or co*ke instead of dark beer.

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