No Yeast Beer Bread with Black Olives & Rosemary
I’m not a natural bread maker, not that breads very difficult to make, it’s mostly that i’m very impatient and can’t bear all the waiting around until its time to eat it.
Thats why this bread is perfect for me, so quick to make with no waiting around for the first rise before beating it back and then waiting around again for it to rise once more before it even gets to the heat of the oven.
Another reason for me to love this bread is the flavour, it’s the beer.
The type of beer i use is a big decider on the taste of the bread. A Deep stout gives a deep rich flavour and a fruity I.P.A. gives it a lighter fruity flavour. It also gives a different shade to the bread!
I’ve used lots of different beers with this recipe, this picture was taken after using Black Isle Brewing Co. Spider Monkey IPA. This gives a slightly sweet tinge to the bread with a nice hoppy edge to it that i think goes really well with the wild garlic butter i’m obsessed with lathering it with.
Find my wild garlic butter recipe here!
If you can get your hands on some wild garlic, get it chopped up and mix it into some salted butter, its perfect with this No Yeast Beer Bread with Black Olives & Rosemary.
Why not try as many different types of beer as possible!?
Of course there’re the other flavours i love to add too , why have one when i can have three!?
Black olives and dried rosemary, all thrown in at once with the rest of the dry ingredients, so even easier to get the bread into my mouth.
How does this magic bread work?
It’s so easy, just a simple chemical reaction. I say that as if i understand what is really going on! :)
When the beer is added to the dry bread ingredients, the beer’s yeast content reacts with the baking powder and starches in the flour, causing the dough to rise and start to leaven. I hope that sounded as though i know what i’m talking about?!
As soon as the beer is added, the whole things gets foamy and bubbles up, that’s the yeast in the beer doing its magic thing with the baking powder, and that’s why once the beer has been added, and mixed in, it needs to go straight into the hot oven, no putting it aside while you make a cup of tea!
Bread heaven
Like i said, magic!
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Mixing the chopped olives in with the dry ingredients helps them become evenly distributed throughout the loaf
What You Need
375g Self Raising Flour – Plus extra for dusting
330ml lager – I used Black Isle Brewery Co Spider Monkey for this - See Tip Box
60g Black Olives
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder – See Tip Box
1 Tbsp Dried Rosemary – See Tip Box
1 Tsp Salt
Butter or margarine for rubbing around the loaf tin
Add all the dry ingredients together before adding the beer
How It’s Done
Heat the oven to 200c - See Tip Box
Rub the inside of a 2lb loaf tin with some butter or margarine – making sure to get into the corners
Put a little flour into the greased tin and shake to cover the entire inside with a very thin layer of the flour. Shake out excess.
For these pictures I used Black Isle Brewing Co. Spider Monkey IPA.
Drain the black olives
Lay the black olives on some paper towel and pat them dry – See Tip Box
Chop the olives into very small pieces before putting them into a large bowl along with the rest of the dry ingredients
Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix them up really well so everything is combined – No need to rush this step
Once the dry ingredients are all mixed together, make a well in the centre
Pour the beer in to the dry ingredients and mix together - See Tip Box
Mix it together very quickly BUT DON’T OVER MIX. – See Tip Box
Mixing – It should come together in just a few mixes. If it gets over mixed, it will effect the rise and the consistency.
As soon as everything is together, pour it into the prepared tin
Dust the top pf the dough with a little dusting of flour and put the tin straight into the hot oven– DON’T DELAY – See Tip Box
As soon as its in the tin and dusted with flour, straight into the hot oven to bake - don’t delay
Bake the bread between 50 minutes – 1hr 10 until the top is a light golden and when the bread is taken out of the tin, and the bottom is tapped, it sounds hollow.
If it doesn’t sound hollow, return it to the tin and back into the oven for more time
Once baked, remove the bread from the tin onto a cooling rack until ready to eat.
Take it out of the tin, onto a cooling rack, to cool completely
Tip Box
Oven 1) All ovens are different so adjust the baking time accordingly
2) Make sure the oven has reached temperature and is very hot before the dough goes into the oven, it’s the severe initial heat that brings the rise Remember, there is no yeast in this recipe to give it a boost.
3) Put the dough straight into the hot oven as soon as it is gets put into the tin. Don’t let the dough sit around in the tin for any length of time. The rise depends onto the chemical reaction of the baking powder and the beer when it hits the heat.
Cool and ready to slice
Beer – 1) I Raided the Lovely Mr Gs cupboard and he had a collection of Black Isle Brewing Co beers and lagers – So I chose Spider Monkey IPA. I’ve used lots of different IPAs and lagers for this, so go with one you like.
2) Try using a stout a heavier beer or even with Guinness
Every beer will give a different flavour
Baking Powder – Make sure the baking powder is in date. Old baking powder will not have the same chemical reaction meaning, the bread wont rise.
Rosemary – No need to just use rosemary in this bread, if you have some thyme that’s great as a flavour booster too.
Black Olives – If the olives are wet, they will add way too much liquid to the bread, which could effect the rise of the bread. Wrap them in paper towel and pat dry until there is no liquid left.
Butter of course, lots of it!
Over mixing – Don’t over mix the ingredients once the beer has been added.
It should come together in just a few mixes. If it gets over mixed, it will effect the rise and the consistency. It should only take a few mixes to come together.
Floury top
